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Progressive 
Agriculture 



TILLAGE NOT WEATHER 
J IS TH E GREATER FACTOR 

J IN CONTROLLING YIELDS 

I 

j 1916 

I i 



PUBLISHED AND SOLD 
BY 



j HARDY W. CAMPBELL 

| LINCOLN, NEBR., U. S. A. 

PRICE, $1.00 



«.._<>_...—.,—..—., 



Progressive 
Agriculture 



1916 y^r 

TILLAGE, NOT WEATHER, 
CONTROLS YIELD 



BY 

HARDY W. CAMPBELL 

LINCOLN, "NEBR. 

U. S. A. 



PRICE, $1.00 



1916 
Woodruff Bank Note Co. 
Lincoln, Nebraska 



(,- V^7 



*<»«. 



Copyrighted 1916 

BY 

H. w. Campbell 



All Rights Reserved 



4& 

FEB I 1916 
©JLA418686 



PREFACE 

Progressive Agriculture has been selected as 
the title of this book for the reason that these 
two words have much meaning to the American 
people on two very vital lines. 

Progressive, as defined in the dictionary, means 
going forward, advancement, improvement, de- 
veloping greater things, conditions, crops. Agri- 
culture is farming, husbandry, tillage, the raising 
of food for man and beast. Therefore applied 
Progressive Agriculture means briefly increased 
prosperity and happiness. 

In semi-humid regions the problem of general 
farming is one of how to avoid waste. Twenty- 
one years ago we began writing and speaking on 
the subject of soil tillage to conserve the moisture 
and obtain better crops, having begun our obser- 
vations 14 years before. Now we are able to 
give in these pages results of 35 years of actual 
field experiments in the rich region which stretches 
from the Missouri valley to the Pacific and from 
Mexico to the north boundary of Alberta. Much 
progress was made in the early years, but never 
so much as in the past four years, in which time 
we have had the hearty cooperation of a large 
number of progressive farmers, over a wide scope 
of country. 

Our ideas have undergone change with better 
knowledge of the problem and a more practical 
field information as the result; and while in a 
way there is nothing fundamentally new in it, 



4 Preface 

the practical application of the vital principles is 
all new, and today we are better prepared than 
ever before to give information that will be 
immensely helpful to all who are engaged in 
general farming in the west. 

The real question is one of results — large crops 
in all seasons, surer crops every year, cutting 
out uncertainty and chance wherever possible. 
It can be done, it has been done, you can do it. 

A great army of doubters has been forced to 
recognize the plain fact that these problems are 
being solved, and public sentiment now more 
than ever before favors the demonstrated fact 
that by soil tillage very much can be done to over- 
come the handicap of limited rainfall in the semi- 
humid west. There is better appreciation of the 
close relation between soil tillage and available 
plant food, together with the quantity of seed 
and time of seeding, and consequent increase of 
crops. It is a growing and expanding subject 
with immense possibilities. 

Results of actual farm work form the basis of 
this book. The principles stated and discussed have 
been developed from actual experiments in the 
great variety of soils under many climatic con- 
ditions. The pictures used are from photographs, 
and names, dates and actual results are invariably 
given to illustrate what has actually been done. 

This book is dedicated to the farmer who is 
desirous to make progress in agriculture, who 
will study these pages and take home the lessons 
of these pictures, who approaches the subject 
without prejudice or skepticism, and who is will- 



Preface 5 

ing to take the steps that will surely increase the 
returns from his labor. This is true Progressive 
Agriculture. 

Yours for greater prosperity in the semi-humid 
sections. Hardy W. Campbell. 

Lincoln, Nebr., Jan. 1, 1916. 



Progressive Agriculture 

CHAPTER I 
A FEW OPENING SUGGESTIONS 

What is tillage of the soil? 

Writers have been answering the question for 
a century and they have not told it all. That 
part of Agriculture which deals with soil tillage is, 
and ever will be an unfinished science, because 
we shall go on learning more and more about it 
and never quite reach the end. 

Tillage, in its broad sense, means all handling 
or treatment of the soil incident to crop growing, 
— plowing, packing, disking, harrowing and culti- 
vating. 

Under this broad term comes any mechanical 
work or process that is applied to change the 
physical condition of the soil, to prepare the seed 
bed, to assist the growing plant and to keep the 
field free of weeds. 

Not all farmers, or those interested in farming, 
or persons who have made some study of agri- 
culture, agree as to the relative importance of 
tillage as compared with other phases of farm 
work. Some place the emphasis at one place and 
some at another. There are those who insist that 
success in farming is wrapped up in animal 
husbandry and others who make a fad of crop 
varieties and of seed selection and seed testing. 
Then there are those who have asserted that til- 
lage is nothing as compared to climatic conditions, 
or in other words, that every farmer everywhere 

7 



8 Progressive Agriculture 

is at the mercy of the clouds and sunshine, the 
drouth and storm. 

But most practical farmers know that tillage 
is very important, and they understand pretty 
well how to get some good and sure results through 
intelligent tillage. But there are some things 
that are more important than others, and that, 
so it has been demonstrated, are doubly im- 
portant in the semi-humid regions of the country, 
in connection with tillage. For instance: — 

Tillage and its relation to available plant food 
in the soil by the storing, controlling and utilizing 
of the available water, whether from the clouds. 4 
ditch or sub-irrigation. This has not heretofore 
been considered as of first importance. 

The farmer must recognize this importance, 
and he must eventually come to understand just 
what happens in chemical action or bacterial 
development under certain ideal soil conditions, as 
well as what happens when the soil is not in con- 
dition to properly utilize the water. 

Available plant food depends on this process 
which goes on in nature's laboratory during the 
time soils are being prepared for crops or between 
the time of fitting and planting of the crops. The 
farmer may, to a large extent, guide and control 
this. Intelligent tillage is the key to the situation. 

As it is now fully understood, that which is 
done to bring about the most favorable condition 
for this laboratory action, — whatever it is or 
however it comes about, — will also produce the 
ideal condition for the soil for quick germination 
of the seed and rapid root growth. (See Cut No. 
11.) 



Progressive Agriculture 9 

Now all of this means a great deal to the farmer 
and it will require thoughtful care and intelligent 
handling right from the start, no half-hearted 
work will win out. At the outset it should be 
said that set rules, regarding the mechanical work 
in all soils, cannot be made that will take the place 
of those worked out by local intelligent observa- 
tion. The most that can be done is to establish 
the right principles most favorable to plant 
growth, leaving to each farmer to work out the 
problem of mechanical work largely with his own 
tools and in his own way and according to the 
special conditions that obtain in his own fields. 
Once you catch on to the real fundamental prin- 
ciples, you will ever after find yourself intensely 
interested. 

Please observe, as previously outlined, that it is 
not alone needful that there shall be such tillage 
as will tend to store water in the soil that it may 
be on hand when needed, but the farmer must 
just as surely direct his efforts to bringing about 
soil conditions that will utilize this moisture in 
every available form to increase the available 
plant food. This means a soil condition where 
there is combined in the soil, the proper propor- 
tion of air and water so that the summer heat, 
when it comes, will develop the conditions that 
make for rapid and healthier growth of the plants. 

SEVEN POINTS IN TILLAGE 

To more clearly establish the main points in 
tillage the subject has been divided into seven 
heads or general classes for consideration. It is 



10 Progressive Agriculture 

hoped that in this way the reader may more 
readily grasp the basic or fundamental principles 
or ideas involved. In the study of each class, as 
well as in the application of the principles, the 
fact must be kept constantly in mind that under 
semi-humid conditions, more perhaps than else- 
where, nature sometimes helps and sometimes 
hinders the progress of work done to bring about 
the ideal conditions. 

Because of this fact, be ever alert to note and 
understand what happens, as for instance, why 
soil slightly dry or too wet will not assume the 
same ideal physical condition when plowed as 
will moist soil that is just right for the plow. Why 
a half inch of rainfall will not have the same effect 
in dissolving and settling the lower portion of the 
soil furrow that an inch or 2-inch rainfall will; 
neither will a 2-inch rain have the same effect 30 
days after plowing that it would have one day 
after. 

Intelligent observation, understanding and re- 
cognition of these primary facts is of wide import- 
ance. The lack of it has many times misled the 
investigator and farmer in conclusions as to the 
correctness of principles and methods he has been 
following. The farmer always needs to remember 
that his attitude towards and faith in progress, 
advancement and confidence in the theories in- 
volved in any question, regulates very largely 
the value and the amount of truth grasped in his 
investigation of the basic principles. 

While the "How" and "Why" of tillage are 
broad and to the untrained mind complex ques- 



Progressive Agriculture 11 

tions, yet a correct solution can be reached. 
Greater problems have been solved; and when 
these questions are really mastered, the farmer 
of modest means will have more dollars added to 
to his earning capacity than could be added in 
any other one way. To this branch of human 
endeavor that beautiful old adage, " Knowledge 
is Wealth", truthfully applies. 

CLASS I— PLANNING 

The first step in Progressive Agriculture is to 
thoughtfully and carefully plan in advance all 
tillage work. In doing this recognize the fact that 
certain principal factors govern growth, produc- 
tion and maturity of all farm crops. Most vital 
of these are — physical condition of the soil and 
available food, the quantity of seed per acre, and 
time of planting. All of this is to be considered in 
connection with the farmer's judgment, based on 
observation, study and experience, as to the kind, 
time and manner of work to be applied, for this 
is the foundation of all you anticipate. 

CLASS II— PREPARATION 

The work of preparing the soil for plowing is a 
necessary preliminary work on which very much 
depends in most of the years. Most important 
in this preparatory work under semi-humid con- 
ditions is that of loosening the soil at the surface 
early in the spring, or just after the harvest in 
summer or fall. This is with the purpose of 
causing the proper percentage of moisture to 
accumulate and remain in the firm soil just below 



12 Progressive Agriculture 

the loosened soil, commonly termed the mulch. 
Proper moisture in soils means life and growth, 
but dryness death to all plant development. 
The right per cent of moisture will also make pos- 
sible easier and better plowing. More surely, 
also, will this careful preparation assure to the 
soil the moisture that will make it more sus- 
ceptible to each and every tillage act designed to 
obtain the ideal physical condition of the seed 
and root bed. In short, water is the prime ele- 
ment, not only^for the plant to drink but to aid 
in getting the soil in ideal condition, to build up 
the soil and increase plant food. 

CLASS III— PLOWING 

The third division of the topic is the command 
to plow the land well, and in this much depends on 
the moisture conditions of the soil when it is done. 
If you would get the greatest good out of the least 
possible expense in tillage, give to the second 
class very careful consideration, then be sure your 
furrow is even in depth and width and well 
turned. As to the depth of plowing, very much 
depends upon what is possible in the follow-up 
work as well as the condition of the soil when 
plowed and the time likely to elapse between the 
plowing and the planting of the crop. Much also 
depends on whether the soil is new or virgin soil 
or old land that has been plowed several years. 

From 5 to 7 inches is a fair range of depth, but 
the deeper the plowing is done the greater effort 
must be made to immediately obliterate all air 
cavities or firm the lower part of the furrow. 



Progressive Agriculture 13 

CLASS IV— PHYSICAL CONDITION 

After plowing it is important to put the plowed 
ground into proper physical condition, with as 
little delay as possible. The tendency of the plow 
is to leave numerous large and small openings in 
the bottom of the furrow. Sometimes when soils 
are in ideal condition to plow moderately fair, 
rains will dissolve and settle the lower part of the 
freshly plowed ground, but this cannot be de- 
pended on; so spare no time in quickly getting 
the lower portion of the furrow slice fine and firm, 
leaving the top somewhat coarse and loose. This 
prompt action is especially important to offset 
bad effects that will come if there follows closely 
a period of hot, dry weather. The quicker the 
seed and root bed are put into condition after 
plowing, to carry the proper per cent of air and 
water, the greater are your chances for a high 
limit in yield from a small amount of water. 

CLASS V— KEEPING UP TILLAGE 

The fifth thing to remember is to improve the 
seed and root bed by every subsequent act of tillage, 
prior to planting. In other words, let the work 
all be timely and of the right kind, that at plant- 
ing time there will be most favorable conditions 
for quick germination of seed and rapid growth of 
roots. This will also aid nature in her further 
liberation of plant food. The favorable time for 
crop making is when the seed and root bed is fine 
and firm and carrying a high per cent of moisture, 
with the proper amount of air and the right 



14 Progressive Agriculture 

degree of warmth. To obtain rapid healthy- 
growth of all cultivated plants there must be at 
all times a liberal amount of moisture at the top 
of the firm soil just below the loose soil mulch. 
The farmer will try every concievable plan to 
obtain this, for it means much. The simple keep- 
ing out of the weeds, where the atmosphere is dry 
or low in humidity, is not enough. The cultiva- 
tion must be deep enough and frequent enough 
to obtain those conditions that will assure, as far 
as possible, a continuous moist character to the 
top of the firm soil or root bed. 

CLASS VI— PLANTING 

The sixth is the matter of planting the seed, and 
in this we must consider how much of each kind 
of seed to plant or sow, also, when to do the plant- 
ing. In considering both quantity of seed and 
time of planting, due consideration must be 
given to the physical condition of the seed bed 
and quantity of available moisture. Success or 
failure often depends almost entirely on the time 
of planting and quantity of seed. Later planting 
than is now common, if preceded by careful spring 
tillage, will bring increased yields, as a rule, and 
frequently defeat the ill effects of a drouth. Not 
infrequently is it true that a well fitted field fails 
in reaching its best results because of too much 
seed. 

CLASS VII— CULTIVATION 

The most vital part of tillage, after all else has 
been said, is the cultivation of the crop. 



Progressive Agriculture 15 

It is to the advantage of every farmer to observe 
and make continual study of his work until he 
clearly understands why any and all crops are 
cultivated after planting. Each time there is 
any mechanical work done the effort should be to 
better the soil condition for healthier and quicker 
growth, and a more prolific yield from the plant. 
The better you know what the soil conditions 
should be the more effective will all your work be. 
To get the most good out of labor there must be 
fimely and correct application. 

Vital questions in the cultivation of crops, to 
which greatest care must be given, are cultiva- 
tion to keep the weeds down, for the weed pest is 
a growing one; to keep the mulch coarse and loose 
to a sufficient depth; and to prevent as far as 
possible moisture loss by evaporation; but never 
cultivate deep enough to destroy the roots of 
the growing plants. Don't let a crust form on 
the surface or under the mulch. 

This brief outline should be studied well before 
proceeding, as it will greatly aid the reader in 
understanding and appreciating each of the follow- 
ing chapters. The thoughts involved will be 
developed more in detail in various ways in the 
following chapters. 



16 Progressive Agriculture 

CHAPTER II 
FARM POSSIBILITIES 

Agriculture is not a completed or perfected 
science. The end has not been reached. We are 
going forward and every man who becomes some- 
where near as interested as Edison has in elec- 
tricity, will learn new and progressive ideas and 
principles for years to come. 

There is advancement in other lines of human 
endeavor, in everything that contributes to the 
convenience and comfort of the human race; why 
not, also, in the art of aiding Nature in the pro- 
duction of useful crops on a more certain basis. 
Better and more profitable farming in the semi- 
humid sections means a greatly increased farm 
population and more and larger towns and cities. 
There are millions of acres of unoccupied lands, 
waiting for the "Home Maker". Not for the 
man that ignores better and more correct and 
appropriate ideas and insists on redeeming the 
country by very deep plowing or some other 
notion that may apply under 30 to 50 inch annual 
rainfall for he is liable to fail just the same as 
thousands have in the past. But to the man who 
will apply modern ideas, study the question care- 
fully and continue to modernize, there are many 
vacant fields that can be made to bloom like Mr. 
Hahn's rose garden. (See Cut No. 2.) 

We are all by environment made skeptics and 
it is true we are suspicious of any new idea or 
advanced theory. Some of us are not even willing 



Progressive Agriculture 17 

to be shown. We are all inclined to be selfish and 
to be filled with egotism. Each one of us thinks 
his way is the best and what he does is right. 
But mistakes are so easy, yes, we have all made 
mistakes. And while we dislike to admit or take 
the blame for any losses from our mistakes, we 
all are hoping right down in our hearts to do better 
and to accomplish more, yes, much more some day. 

We do not want to stay in the rut, so to speak, 
however much we deny there is any rut, and we 
note with pride the very marked advancement 
and improvement in all other lines such as in 
automobiles, flying machines, wireless telegraphy, 
wireless telephones, moving pictures and phono- 
graphs, all of which contribute to our comfort, 
pleasure and entertainment, and we rejoice, then 
why should we be content with the present farm 
methods and their uncertain and sometimes 
meager profits. 

When we consider what has been done we can 
but realize there may be some further advance- 
ment and improvement in the many practical 
lines of farm work, if we put forth a little mental, 
as well as physical effort. Observe, see things, 
then do some real thinking. We are sure this 
will result in a more certain annual cash income 
per acre. 

What was it that gave us, only a few years ago, 
such little faith in farm results? Why was it so 
difficult to keep good men on|the farms and at 
work along lines that we know ought to be most 
profitable? Why so much discouragement? Were 
it possible for the average farmer to turn to bus- 



18 Progressive Agriculture 

iness and professional callings and succeed with 
no more real knowledge of the business than is 
displayed by him in his farm work, the farming 
industry would long ago have been abandoned. 
Too many however, have already tried such a 
change and find even greater and equally per- 
plexing problems to be solved. Really, when we 
come to know the soil we find it more submissive 
and much more responsive to good treatment than 
the human race. 

The real fact is that, as farming has been done, 
there is much cause for discouragement that is 
hard to overcome, and it is due to the occasional 
years of big crops, then a few years of fair crops, 
interspersed with crop failures, and as we were in- 
clined to rely on the weather, it is no wonder that 
under these conditions, as they have prevailed, 
we are continually out of balance, in debt and 
faith shaken. 

Prosperous and happy farm homes are the hope 
and ambition of every man and his family who 
are endeavoring to so plan their labors on the farm 
that there may be each and every year a little 
surplus profit. Though this may be modest, if 
it comes every year it lends enchantment, but 
when they find the profits of two or three years 
wiped out by crop failure the next year, they not 
only find their cash short, but their courage and 
energy depleted and we all know what follows. 
Not only is the home minus the cash for the nec- 
cessaries and comforts, much less for pleasures, 
but sorrow and peevishness too often pervade 
the home circle, under which condition many 



Progressive Agriculture 19 

things are done at a disadvantage and loss until 
hope for better things almost or quite fades away. 

The experience of our New England fore- 
fathers was a beautiful illustration of the point we 
wish to make. They were principally farmers on 
a modest scale, they did not make much each 
year, but every year found their holdings and 
conditions slightly improved because of the safe 
and sure methods and contentment and happiness 
pervaded every home. 

Many thousand dollars have in the past been 
loaned for our western development by individual 
New England farmers, who started on 60, 80 or 
100 acres of timbered land with little capital out- 
side of a strong physique and ample energy, but 
from the start a little was added every year until 
there was a surplus. 

Not that we would go back to the old narrow, 
modest routine grind of our forefathers, but be- 
fore any country, state or section can be on a 
stable, prosperous basis, gambling and extreme 
uncertainty of success must be very largely 
eliminated, and one of the heavy screws in the 
balance wheel to this question is, to prevent crop 
failure or even a small crop, and it is the ease 
with which we believe this can be done by tillage 
of the right kind at the proper time that prompts 
us to beckon the man of modest means to the new 
semi-humid west, and to say to those who are 
now located in this great belt, "Eureka". 

Don't misunderstand us. We wish our reader 
to look the situation squarely in the face and then 
no matter who you are or where you are, you will 



20 Progressive Agriculture 

not be disappointed in the outcome. We shall 
show you big crops that have made big profits. 
We have a few farmers that are getting these big 
profits every year, both in years of very light 
rainfall and heavy rainfall. 

We shall try to explain to you how to do it, 
and if you become interested and really try, you 
can easily beat any record we have, but the great- 
est source of enthusiasm with us is based on the 
fact that crop failure in this great belt will not 
occur to any man, barring hail storms and cyclones 
who becomes familiar with the principles and 
applies them as we now understand them ; there- 
fore, the possible steady annual farm profit, so 
much needed. 

We personally know many who have overcome, 
to some degree, the handicap under which they 
formerly labored, and by a little careful thinking 
have vastly improved their situation, and are 
still improving. They have endeavored earnestly 
to make progress and to follow the principles that 
we developed and commenced to advocate a good 
many years ago. Many of them stand ready to 
testify to the good results attained by actually 
getting out of the old ruts and applying plain and 
sensible methods to the newer problems of their 
immediate life. 

SUCCESS WITH RIGHT PRINCIPLES 

While many have succeeded by following the 
right principles it is also a fact that others have 
honestly but modestly tried to do the same thing 
and have failed. It is these failures that have 



Progressive Agriculture 21 

made the most noise over the widened scope of 
country and have given opportunity for doubters 
to declare there is nothing in tillage, no rules can 
be fixed, no way to succeed in the semi-humid 
country, and that "it won't work in drouthy 
years". The trouble is that they may have tried 
to apply the principles without trying to under- 
stand them. They have sought merely to do what 
they have supposed was necessary without really 
knowing why, then followed the disappointment. 
This fact should be realized at the outset, that 
farming is one art where it may not be possible 
to lay down any hard mechanical rules that will 
fit every case; for example, a moist soil may be 
plowed 6 to 7 inches deep and with timely tillage 
be immediately worked into a perfect seed bed, 
while the same soil when wet or dry cannot. 
Many have tried the latter and failed without 
realizing that the mistake in their own work 
caused the failure. The same rule applies in put- 
ting the seed into the soil, or in the cultivation of 
the crop, a different amount of moisture will bring 
different soil conditions from the same mechanical 
work. Conditions change — climate, soil, eleva- 
tion, water, winds, etc. But certain general prin- 
ciples can be stated that will help the farmer to 
meet all the changing conditions, just the same as 
the correct principles were worked out to build a 
successful flying machine. This means simply 
the correct application of true or scientific prin- 
ciples to agriculture. That doesn't mean any- 
thing hard to understand, or for the use of college 
professors alone; not at all, for science may be 



22 Progressive Agriculture 

simple and still be science, it only means the 
correct way and time of doing things. 

Those who chiefly for selfish reasons, decried 
all efforts to improve the conditions of the semi- 
humid regions, are far less in number than a 
few years ago. When an extra large yield of any 
crop is obtained, there are still those who say it is 
impractical, it cost more than the crop is worth, 
it don't pay. Hold on, Mr. Pessimist; the next 
field may not cost as much, a little more of the 
know how, and a little efficiency may materially 
diminish the cost and further increase the next 
crop. No idea was ever conceived, or learned and 
perfected in a day. The first question in a new 
undertaking is, can it be done? Then comes the 
efficiency and reduction to a system and the 
elimination of cost without decreasing the value 
of the device or principle. There are some who 
continue to deny that anything can be done to 
make matters better. They refuse to look about 
and know the truth, for it is the truth that every- 
where, all through the semi-humid region, great 
things have been accomplished wherever men have 
tried earnestly, and with open minds, to get at 
the facts. If you want to get at the true situation 
just call on any one of these farmers who have 
learned the how, and got results for a number of 
years. You will find him stronger in the faith and 
learning more each year. One only needs but to 
make inquiry to find that very much progress has 
been made on sound principles, towards better 
and surer crops all through the country. 



Progressive Agriculture 23 

EVERY FARMER AN INVESTIGATOR 

It must be remembered, however, that most of 
this is still in the experimental stage. Every 
farmer must be an experimentor in his efforts to 
learn, but he must have some fundamental prin- 
ciples upon which to base his experiments or he 
is quite sure to go wrong either in his work or in 
his conclusions as to the why of his results. He 
must study and investigate, if he fails, try to 
fmd out why he failed. Don't give up. Every 
little helps. A great deal more in the future is to 
come right from the farms as the result of in- 
telligence, tillage and observation by good think- 
ing, persistent farmers, than any other way, 
because such individual farmers go at the experi- 
ments in a practical way and his observing neigh- 
bors, hungry for information, take note and 
appreciate a neighbor's advice. 

It is said that before Edison produced the first 
successful incandescent light, he had used in his 
experiments over three thousand elements or 
combinations of elements. Why did he persist in 
so many trials, in face of repeated failures? He 
believed it could be done, and he did it. So, too, 
can the farmers all solve the question of surer 
and better crops at a lower cost. The pessimist 
who watched Edison finally saw a bright light, 
later he saw a still brighter one, and then a much 
brighter one, for not only has the first Edison 
light been many times improved and made better, 
but the cost of the light and globes have steadily 
decreased through other ingenious and advanced 



24 Progressive Agriculture 

ideas not at first thought of. The same will be 
true of the farmer of the semi-humid west and it 
is through more timely and more correct tillage 
that shall more accurately utilize nature's elements 
that we can and will populate these prairies with 
prosperous farmers, and beautiful farm homes, 
and happy will be the farmer and his family who 
grasps these principles and gets busy. 

In the following pages we shall deal with the 
whole subject broadly. We will present all the 
results of our later observations and the selection 
of correct principles, and this with a better under- 
standing of some of the earlier ideas we have put 
forth, we hope to clearly explain to the farmer 
the more advanced ideas and how he can carry 
out experiments in soil tillage and learn how with 
greater certainty to reach the maximum yield 
at a minimum cost each and every year, and 
crop failure in the semi-humid west be a thing of 
the past. Experiments should be small to begin 
with, not that the principles may be wrong, but 
you may not have a correct understanding of 
every detail. It is with practical experience and 
observation that the perplexing questions are 
cleared up and when clearly understood one 
frequently wonders why he did not so understand 
it before. 

Remember this is the age of progression, the 
old heads of our largest business institutions are 
hiring experts on special lines at fabulous salaries 
to promote the methods of advanced efficiency 
and greater economy; in short, the heads of every 
known enterprise, business or profession are try- 



Progressive Agriculture 25 

ing to better know their business and how to 
more profitably run it. 

Once you learn how to increase not only the 
magnitude but certainty of the crop or decrease 
the cost, it will not only be your perpetual profit, 
but to your children and grandchildren will 
come greater profits made possible by you. 

MR. G. W. HAHN'S HOME 

Mr. G. W. Hahn the subject of this sketch, 
came to Yuma, Colo, in the spring of 1910 and 
filed his homestead claim on 160 acres of land 6 
miles northeast of Yuma, Colo. Coming from 
eastern Nebraska, with a very modest amount of 
money that he had accumulated by several years' 
renting land, Mr. Hahn came there with the idea 
that he could at least make a living for his family 
and have a home of his own. After learning 
something of the possibilities of the right kind of 
tillage in growing trees, crops and vegetables, he 
got busy. 

Mr. Hahn has made a success of wheat and other 
crops and is now quite well supplied with hogs 
and cattle. In 1914 his 40 acre summer tilled 
field of winter wheat averaged 41^ bushels per 
acre. But Mr. Hahn has turned some of his 
good judgment to another line, that of having a 
real home with not only civilized but beautiful 
surroundings. 

Note Cut No. 2, which shows only half of his 
front yard, as the other side of the walk is just 
the same. This picture was taken June 29, 1914, 
a somewhat dry year. One rose bush near the 



26 Prgroessive Agriculture 

center had at that time 43 double roses in full 
bloom. To the right is his small fruit, also a 
modest grape arbor and still further to the right 
his vegetable garden, and all were equally as 
prolific as this flower garden, no irrigation what- 
ever is or has been resorted to for the flowers, 
fruit or vegetables. Tillage of the right kind 
changed the bleak, short grass prairie to this 
beautiful home in 4 years. No one ever visits 
the Hahn home in the summer season and goes 
away without a bouquet. 

Cut No. 4 shows the corner of Mr. Hahn's farm 
as well as the yard surrounding his home. This 
picture was a so taken June 29, 1914. Note the 
sign over the gate, "ROSE HILL FARM". 
The name is very appropriate in every way 
except the hill and yet close observation detects 
the fact that he is on a slight swell. 

Cut No. 5 shows a row of Mr. Hahn's apple 
trees five years old, photographed July 11, 1915. 
To the right and back of the front tree can be 
seen the home. Why did not the earlier settlers 
have such homes? Was the rainfall too light? 
Oh no; statistics show that the average rainfall 
from 1910 to 1914 inclusive was slightly lower 
than any previous five years recorded, and these 
are the years that Mr. Hahn got his convincing 
results, due not to weather conditions but kind 
and time of tillage. Mr. Hahn said in a letter 
dated, June 29, 1915: 

"One year ago today, you took your first pic- 
ture of our trees and flower garden, we have had 
more than twice as much rain but nothing looks 



Progressive Agriculture 27 

as good as last year. We can't cultivate, it's too 
wet. I see now the correctness of a statement I 
heard you make three years ago, that sometime 
the people would realize that the light rainfall of 
northeast Colorado was a blessing in disguise. 
I see it now ; give me the dryer years. Yours for 
more knowledge in Tillage,— G. W. Hahn." 



CHAPTER III 

PREPARATION BEFORE SEEDING 

The early spring fitting of the soil has been 
given far too little attention in the past. The 
control and utility of soil water is and has been 
the most neglected part in crop production. For 
years we have depended on the climatic conditions 
as the ruling factor in crop production; this 
theory has cost the semi-humid west many a heart- 
ache and millions of money. The solution of this 
whole problem is a better knowledge of the 
necessary physical condition of the soil for the 
better control of soil water and how by tillage, to 
obtain it. Some advantages of this have been 
secured by many farmers through a modest prac- 
tice of early spring disking; yet the real value 
of early spring tillage and the continued careful 
handling of the fields up to planting time, is by 
no means understood or appreciated by the masses. 
There is unlimited evidence that it cannot be 
too strongly advocated and adhered to in almost 



28 Progressive Agriculture 

any farming section. More especially is this true 
under semi-humid conditions. If the principles as 
outlined under this heading, are carefully observed 
and carried out, it will go a long way towards, if 
not completely defeat the ill effect of any drouthy 
condition on good soil or in any locality with an 
average annual rainfall of 15 inches or more. 

We shall divide this preparatory tillage into 
three distinct classes: Spring tillage, for spring 
and early summer planting; summer tillage for 
fall seeding of winter wheat, oats or rye; and fall 
tillage for other crops to follow the one just 
harvested. 

The continued careful work referred to does not 
necessarily mean a greatly increased amount of 
labor, but it has reference more to timeliness and 
the right kind of work. It is not uncommon for 
a farmer in the start to put on his field untimely 
as well as so much work that it is a detriment. 
Economy in labor adds to the cash profit just the 
same as increased crop yield, but one must not 
economize in labor at the cost of a lesser yield in 
the end. Don't let one dollar's worth of extra 
timely work loom up so high that you can't see 
beyond it five dollars more crop yield in return. 

SPRING TILLAGE 

Spring tillage is a somewhat new departure as 
its object is to make it possible to grow spring 
planted crops every year in much of the semi- 
humid section. Our three years of extensive 
experiments just past indicate that it promises 
much more than our plan of summer tilling out- 



Progressive Agriculture 29 

lined some years ago, emphatically so to the new 
beginner and to the man who has hogs and cows. 

In discussing this topic what we wish to consider 
first is how to most successfully and economically 
conserve as far as possible all the rainfall. Second, 
how to utilize this moisture to the best advantage 
in building up the soil and increasing the available 
plant food. Third, how to get the seed and root 
bed in the most ideal condition possible for 
quick germination, and a rapid healthy growth. 
\Ve hold to the importance of keeping the surface 
soil loose and allowing no weeds to grow, that the 
same moisture may be held in the top firm soil 
until not only this soil has become well warmed, 
but the weather has settled down to a more steady 
warm temperature, when a much greater per cent 
of plant food will be continuously available. 
Then during the prolonged period of spring tillage 
there may be added more spring moisture, and by 
holding this condition for 4 to possibly 8 weeks 
before planting, depending on both the kind of 
crop and location, you can produce three to six 
times the growth as has been the common ex- 
perience with the same rainfall, the result of a 
more complete utilizing of the soil water and a 
greater increase of available plant food. 

All cultivated land especially if intended for 
the spring crop should receive attention just as 
early in the spring as it is possible to do anything. 
Fall plowed land should be loosened rather shal- 
low, but land not fall plowed should be double 
disked as early as soil conditions will permit. 

The tandem or double-disk, (See Cut No. 23.) 



30 Progressive Agriculture 

is the most effective for double-disking in the fields, 
as it is more easily regulated as to the proper 
depth, draws lighter in proportion to the work it 
does and leaves the surface leveler than the single 
disk. As a rule it is not desirable to disk deeply 
in early spring, but more on the shallow order. 
With a reasonably level surface, two and one-half 
inches into the soil is ample, but do not as a rule, 
cut very much less in depth, too shallow is as 
serious as too deep. Above all things, do not leave 
any uncultivated spots. 

Do not follow the disk with a spike tooth or 
smoothing harrow, as this is liable to make the 
surface too fine, and a fine dust-like surface does 
not hold the moisture as well as a coarser mulch. 
Besides, the fine mulch is more susceptible to 
blowing, and last but not least it is more certain 
to be puddled and packed by fairly heavy showers, 
(See Cut No. 9) which means also that a smaller 
quantity of the water will be taken in from the 
rains, since more of it will run off the puddled 
surface of the field and be lost, and then another 
cultivation will be required as soon as the surface 
is sufficiently dry. 

The coarser mulch is, therefore, more econom- 
ical, as it takes in the rains more readily, saves 
more of the water and requires less labor. With 
the coarser mulch, several light rains may fall 
without seriously affecting the protection of the 
moisture by the mulch; (See Cut No. 8), while 
the fine dust like mulch is usually put out of 
commission by one modest shower. 

At no time of the season is the danger of loss 



Progressive Agriculture 31 

of water more vital than during the early spring 
winds and bright sunshine. That is why the 
early use of the disk is so very important. 

In case the farmer is planning to plant corn with 
a lister months later, plowing is not desirable and 
this early disking and continued spring tillage, 
until soil is warm, is vital to large yields and 
certainty of a profitable crop. One careful trial 
will convince. If, however, the farmer expects to 
plow the ground for oats, potatoes, checkrowed 
Qorn, feterita, sudan grass, hog millet or any other 
crop, the early disking is of great importance. 
In fact, without this early disking followed with 
later timely spring tillage to keep the surface 
loose and prevent the loss of water and the weeds 
growing, the soil will deteriorate before planting 
time, and its available water and plant food will 
be less. This would mean that .the crop would be 
smaller no matter what the season may be, but 
very much less, or a possible failure, in a drouthy 
year. 

Early and continued spring tillage not only con- 
serves the moisture, but aids in warming the soil. 
As previously stated, every act of preparation of 
the soil, disking, plowing, packing and surface 
cultivation, should be done with a full under- 
standing of its purpose or object. The entire 
work must be done to improve the soil condition 
with special effort to obtain the fine firm seed and 
root bed with loose coarse mulch. All stages of 
this work if done, so far as possible, at a time 
when the soil is moist, will then be more suscept- 
ible to the desired effect of the implement used. 



32 Progressive Agriculture 

All this aids in obtaining a higher degree of 
warmth and the proper per cent of moisture, both 
of which are so necessary in increasing the avail- 
able plant food. Timeliness in tillage and not 
quantity of work is the essence of success in this. 

Land that is to be planted to small grain or 
checkrowed corn, should be plowed fairly early 
after the early disking, in fact the earlier it is 
plowed, providing the soil is moist, the greater 
are the chances for a more ideal seed bed at 
planting time, both from more tillage and a 
greater possible rain, good rains are necessary 
after plowing to obtain the most ideal seed beds. 

The farmer must grasp at once in connection 
with this idea of more and better tillage before 
planting, the fact that it takes a larger number of 
days to grow and mature a plant if the seed is 
planted early in a cold, half prepared, dead, 
clammy soil than if planted later in a live warm 
soil. Warmth gives energy to the soil and energy 
stimulates growth, and the coaching of this 
energy by the right kind of spring tillage, is 
wonderfully effective. 

Plowing should be a fair depth from 5 to 7 
inches, depending on conditions previously re- 
ferred to, but do not leave the freshly plowed 
ground to dry out, follow closely with the sub- 
surface packer or disk set straight. Remember, 
you are now preparing the seed and root bed in 
which the plants are to be born, fed.and matured. 
Don't make any mistakes. For later cultivation 
and before planting the Acme harrow is very good, 
(See Cut No. 35), as it tends to turn the live moist 



Progressive Agriculture 33 

dirt at the bottom of the mulch up to the top and 
leaves the firm soil underneath level. Continue 
this spring tillage at necessary times until the time 
of planting. It is the open door to better crops 
every year instead of every other year. Don't 
let the weeds grow, and get it thoroughly fixed in 
your mind, that if your tillage efforts are well 
directed you are continually adding to the 
elements, and improving the condition necessary 
for a big crop as you carry this work on into the 
warm spring weather to the time of planting sug- 
gested for the different crops referred to later on. 

SUMMER TILLAGE 

Summer tillage should be identical with spring 
tillage in the start, for recent experience points 
to the great value of the early thorough work. 
The plowing, however, in summer tillage should 
be delayed and the disk used mainly during the 
early spring. In short summer tillage is a con- 
tinuation of spring tillage for fall seeding. 

Where summer tillage is planned, the early 
spring disking should be rather shallow so that 
later disking can be slightly deeper, thereby 
throwing a little live moist soil on the top, for 
the double purpose of keeping the mulch coarser, 
to prevent blowing, and to keep the surface 
more open to admit later rains. It is better to 
use the disk mainly or entirely when possible up 
to the time of plowing. There again, timeliness is 
more than quantity of work. 



34 Progressive Agriculture 

PLOWING THE SUMMER TILLED LAND 

Plowing as a rule, in the central west should be 
in early June; later plowing is somewhat risky, 
for if the rains do not come the excessive heat later 
on, last of July or in August, may dry out the 
plowed portion to that degree that practically 
no chemical or bacterial action will take place. 
If there is no weed growth to bother your field, 
for a considerable time after plowing, you may 
know your seed and root bed is not up to the stand- 
ard; therefore when the wheat or other seed is 
deposited in such seed beds the germination and 
growth is very slow and stooling very little in 
the fall. The same will be proportionately true 
in the early growth the following spring. At any 
time and in many seasons of the year when you 
are preparing your seed bed you must keep close 
tab on the real condition you are getting your 
soil into. This real soil condition must also be 
given due consideration in deciding the quantity 
of seed to be put in per acre, and more especially 
so in fall seeding for winter wheat. Fields with 
unfavorable conditions require more seed. 

Be sure to follow the plow closely with some 
method of packing the bottom of the furrow, but 
don't attempt to do it by pulling any solid roller 
or clod crusher over the field for it only firms the 
top and does not pack the bottom, which is the 
vital point and especially so if you have plowed 
five inches or more in depth. 

There have been some mistakes made in the 
past by using the sub-surface packer, after the 



Progressive Agriculture 35 

plowing had lain long enough to become some- 
what dry, under which conditions the soil would 
not respond to the pressure of the wheels and the 
very under portion would not become firm. There- 
fore, if a dry season followed, the desired effect 
was lost and the packer condemned because it 
did not do what could not be done. 

Another very serious mistake, after the sub- 
surface packer has been used effectively, the top 
may become packed by later rains. Now with the 
lower portion of the furrow made firm by the sub- 
surface packer, when the top becomes dissolved 
and packed by heavy rains, as it will, especially 
if a free use of the spike tooth harrow has made 
the mulch fine, you then have the most serious 
condition, because it so greatly aids the upward 
movement of moisture by capillary attraction to 
the surface and direct loss by evaporation. This 
water brings to the surface alkali, magnesia and 
other salts of the soil in a dissolved or soluable 
form, and when the steam or vapor leaves the 
surface the dry salts are left between the soil 
grains. This with the loss of the moisture causes 
a most unfavorable condition for the growth and 
maturity of the plant. Do such conditions give 
ground for the argument, that there are times the 
subsurface packer should not be used? It certainly 
does not. The things that should not have been 
done were first, not to allow the surface to be- 
come so fine that rains would settle it so firm; 
second, not to allow the surface to remain firm 
after the rain. 

A mulch should be kept over the surface as near 



36 Progressive Agriculture 

two and a half inches deep as conditions will 
permit and all possible effort put forth to leave it 
reasonably coarse. Another important thing is, 
do not let the weeds grow. A few weeds will 
make several bushels difference in the yield. If 
weeds persist in growing, it is an indication of a 
good seed bed and that plant food is being in- 
creased, therefore, get busy, for the more the weeds 
take of this the less you will have for the crop. 
Then if the weeds get any size they will not only 
utilize plant food but deplete the moisture to 
such a degree as to check bacterial or chemical 
action. Watch these points closely. A little 
timely work prevents a'l these unfavorable con- 
ditions and means many more bushels of grain. 
While it is true that early June plowing followed 
by persistent work to get the lower portion of the 
furrow fine and firm will tend to more weed growth, 
yet if the weeds are kept down and soil mulch 
loose to a depth of about two and a half inches, a 
more ideal seed and root bed will be obtained and 
an increased amount of plant food will be avail- 
able. This fact leads to an important question 
which will be more fully discussed later on and 
that is quantity of seed. Too frequently we find 
the farmer sowing 20 pounds of fall wheat per acre 
with little regard to the real soil condition ob- 
tained. Summer tillage may be so handled that 
12 to 15 pounds of winter wheat per acre planted 
reasonably early would stool so liberally that it 
would have to be disked in the spring to thin it; 
while a less carefully handled field might be seeded 
a little later with 25 to 30 pounds of seed and yet 



Progressive Agriculture 37 

be none too thick. These facts mean very much 
and must be duly considered, in case of late seed- 
ing to keep clear of the ravages of the Hessian fly 
more seed would be necessary. 

FALL TILLAGE 

Fall tillage as we wish to indicate, refers to the 
work following the harvest of one crop and the 
preparation of the land for the next crop, whether 
it be for fall or spring planting. The first very 
important step is to follow the harvester with the 
disk harrow, as shown in Cut No. 21 showing 
engine pulling harvester and tandem disk, and 
Cut No. 22 showing horses pulling tandem disk. 
There is no time when ample moisture means 
more in the soil than during the hot weather 
following the cutting of a crop of small grain in 
July or August. This is especially true of winter 
wheat fields. 

Many have said in the past, " What's the use 
of disking dry ground behind the harvester?" 
This points to the honest, but stubborn belief of 
men who have never watched the effect of such 
work. We have repeatedly observed the soil dry 
at the bottom of the disked stubble ground just 
as the disk harrow passed over reasonably close 
to the harvester and then again, at the end of ten 
days or two weeks, even though it was hot, dry 
weather and no rain, and the result of the upward 
movement of moisture by capillary attraction 
found this same firm soil moist enough to plow 
well. 

It is the accumulation of this moisture in this 



38 Progressive Agriculture 

very warm soil held there by the mulch loosened 
by the disk that sets the little micro-organisms 
busy building up the life and energy in the soil. 

Another very important point is that the mulch 
formed by the stubble being mixed into this 
loosened surface which is not readily settled or 
packed by almost any number of rains, does readily 
take in each rain and when the water comes in 
contact with the firm but moist soil below the 
mulch, it percolates down more readily and deeper. 
All the moisture you store in your soil is like so 
much cash in the bank. 

When the top soil is not disked but left hard, 
soon after harvest it is not infrequently found dry 
down four to six inches. Following this condition 
there may be quite a rain and in two days of hot 
sun it is all gone, because it goes into the dry, firm 
soil so very slow that the heat of the summer sun 
aided by the reflection of the glossy stubble takes 
it up quickly. Remember a little moisture 
sometimes means very much. 

Following this disking and before you are ready 
to plow one or two heavy rains may come, then 
the weeds may start. Do not let these weeds 
grow to any size. You have already been to the 
expense of one disking for a worthy purpose, now 
don't let the weeds later on, utilize this moisture 
and dry out the land then try to plow and say 
there is no value to disking after the harvester, 
for the worthless weeds have robbed you. Give 
the field another double-disking if you are not 
ready to plow at once. At all hazards, don't let 
the weeds grow, and then think you are adding 



Progressive Agriculture 39 

something to your soil by turning under green 
weeds. 

We have repeatedly seen fields that were well 
double-disked following the harvester in July in 
elegant condition and being plowed four to six 
weeks later with soil rolling over nice and moist, 
when adjoining fields not thus treated were so 
dry and hard that plowing was impossible. 

Do not forget the following seven advantages 
in double-disking after the harvester. 

1. Retains the moisture you may need next 
year. 

2. Soil becomes moist while very warm and 
more plant food is made available. 

3. Soil becomes moist and plowing can be suc- 
cessfully done earlier and later. 

4. Prolongs the period of good plowing. 

5. Soil plowed mo st can be worked down into 
a good seed bed while dry soil cannot. 

6. Moist soil saves plow shears and horse power. 

7. It all sums up into a foundation for bigger 
and better crops next year. 

PLOWING FOR WINTER WHEAT 

Plowing in fall tilling for wheat should begin as 
soon after harvest as the soil is sufficiently moist 
to permit good plowing. If the land has been 
well handled and a fair amount of moisture had 
fallen prior to harvest and the wheat field disked 
after the harvester, there will soon be found 
moisture enough to plow well. The depth of 
plowing should be from 5 to 7 inches depending, 
as previously stated, upon soil conditions. Follow- 



40 Progressive Agriculture 

ing the plowing should come the working down of 
the lower portion of the furrow slice. Very much 
depends on this as to the amount of seed per acre. 
With all sub-packing that can be done on fall 
plowing for fall wheat seeding, nothing can com- 
plete the work quite like a good rain (but such 
rain don't come to order) that freely percolates 
down through the coarse mulch and to a more or 
less degree dissolves and settles the lower part of 
the plowing. Its great value depends, of course, 
upon how soon after the plowing it comes and how 
much falls. 

After the rain, if a heavy one, the top should be 
loosened again. Some judgment must be used 
at this point. While it is desirable to have the 
seed bed fine, the top or mulch should be kept 
somewhat coarse. 

For further information see chapter on growing 
wheat. 



CHAPTER IV 

CORN AND STAPLE CROP 

Corn is one of the essential crops of successful 
agriculture. In almost every farming region, 
though wheat may be the farmer's staple crop, 
he must have a few hogs, cows and also teams to 
do his work, and corn is one of the grains much 
needed for feed. In addition it is a fact, that suc- 
cessful and safe farming must be backed by stock 
and dairy products. Therefore, the absolute 
necessity of ample quantities of good corn. 



Progressive Agriculture 41 

In the chapter on preparation of the soil we 
have briefly outlined the necessary early work 
which applies to planting corn with lister, in 
which case plowing is not necessary. While we 
do not object to fall plowing for corn, yet we are 
of the opinion that where spring plowing is done 
reasonably early and is preceded with thorough 
but not deep disking and followed closely with 
plenty of harrowing and later timely tillage, that 
spring plowing is best. 

As to depth of plowing observe what is said 
under Class III. 

As to check row planting as opposed to use of the 
lister or drilling, we are still somewhat in favor of 
check rowing for corn in all the semi-humid 
sections. But the farmer must be equipped with 
the proper tools and continue the cultivation 
with proper care until the corn is practically 
made. However, if you wish to put the corn in 
the ground and let Providence take care of it, we 
would advise the listing plan, as providence 
would have a better chance than if the field was 
check rowed. 

SEED CORN 

In selecting seed corn to plant outside of the 
corn belt proper, and in higher altitudes, or 
farther north, and as you change in location to- 
ward the two points referred to, study the con- 
ditions that are found and do not make too radical 
a change in the seed. Do not select too large 
varieties for the dryer or higher sections but look 
for a slightly smaller ear with early maturing 



42 Progressive Agriculture 

qualities. Keep in mind especially the average 
annual rainfall of your own locality, and the fact 
that the larger the growth of foliage the more 
moisture is needed and the less moisture is left 
for use in maturing the ears and grain. This is 
important should you be confronted with the 
usual drouthy conditions in mid-summer. 

With the smaller stalk, other important matters 
considered, the corn might produce in average 
seasons, one 8-ounce ear to each stalk. Under 
same conditions the larger variety with taller 
stalk and heavy foliage might possibly produce 
an average of one 10-ounce ear to two stalks. 
This would be little more than half the yield of 
corn, which is quite in accord with our observa- 
tions covering many experiments under various 
conditions. 

Above all other things secure, if possible, ac- 
climated seed corn; but if this is not available 
next in consideration is a seed that has been 
grown as nearly as possible under conditions 
simi ar to that in your fields. 

The selection of the earliest well developed, 
uniform ears from strong, healthy, prolific plants 
in your own fields, after you get a desirable 
variety, is also very important. The development 
and planting of acclimated seed is one of the main 
factors making it possible to successfully carry 
the limits of the corn belt farther north and to 
higher altitudes, something regarded a few years 
ago theoretically as an impossibility, but stands 
today demonstrated as a possibility. 



Progressive Agriculture 43 

THICK OR THIN PLANTING 

The number of stalks per acre is another very 
vital question to consider in corn growing under 
semi-humid conditions. With corn checked 3 
feet and 6 inches each way and two stalks to a 
hill, there would be 7,112 stalks per acre, which is 
ample stand for a 30-inch average rainfall. If 
listed 3 feet 6 inches apart and one grain dropped 
every 21 inches there would be the same number 
of stalks to the acre. With one 8-ounce ear per 
stalk you would have a yield of 63 bushels per 
acre — remember an 8-ounce ear is moderately 
small, a 12-ounce ear is only modestly fair size. 

But this is too many sta ks by at least a third 
for a section with only 16 to 20 inches of annual 
rainfall. 

It is true that many corn fields in the semi- 
humid sections may not average more than 4,556 
stalks to the acre, under conditions of planting 
as above. But are they evenly distributed — well, 
hardly ever. 

Too thin a stand, however, has its disadvantages 
the same as too thick; an even stand over the 
entire field is more important under semi-humid 
conditions than where ample rains are more 
dependable, thick spots and thin spots will not 
deliver. 

That a thinner stand may mean much was 
evidenced in the recent drouthy years when we 
had a number of field experiments in western 
Nebraska and northeastern Colorado w.th fields 
of corn where rows were planted 7 feet apart, or 



44 Progressive Agriculture 

skipping every other row, and the spaces between 
were kept well cultivated, and this with excellent 
results, in some instances the yield of corn was 
quite as much as in fields with rows 3 feet 6 inches 
apart. The illustration is a little radical yet it 
points to the correctness of the principle. Do 
not jump at conclusions; reason well this question. 
True, if you are planting for a crop of ensilage, 
plant thicker, but even then a stalk every 18 inches 
is enough for certain results from anything below 
a 20-inch rainfall. We are strong believers in 
corn rows farther apart — at least four feet — but 
most cultivators are not wide enough to cover this 
width, and change in the width of planting would 
mean change of cultivators. This kind of plant- 
ing however, would give each plant more pasture 
and facilitate later cultivation. Good seed that 
will practically all grow is very important, for in 
no other way can an even stand be obtained. 

CORN CULTIVATION 

Cultivation is referred to in Class VII, as the 
final and vital act of tillage for corn. The precise 
time, manner and depth of cultivation of any 
crop means much more to the final yield than is 
generally realized, and must be carried out with 
a system which recognizes at least the following 
six important factors. 

1. To keep all weeds from growing. 

2. To cultivate the crop and not plow it. 

3. To carry a somewhat coarse mulch and not 
a dust blanket over the surface. 



Progressive Agriculture 45 

4. To allow practically no moisture to escape by- 
direct evaporation from the surface. 

5. To use every possible precaution in pre- 
venting any crust from forming under the mulch 
or on the surface. 

6. To destroy no roots of the corn during its 
entire growth, but more especially observe this 
point after the corn begins to show tassels. 

HARROW AND CULTIVATOR 

If you have disked your land early and kept up 
careful cultivation, as suggested under the head- 
ing of early spring fitting, you have gone a long 
way towards cleaning the field of weeds and mak- 
ing it possible to keep it free. If the land was 
plowed early, followed by a good fitting and corn 
planted with a check rower, one or two good 
harrowings will again set the possible crop of 
small weeds back and aid greatly in holding the 
desirable per cent of moisture at the top of the 
firm soil. 

From the time the corn plant has its third leaf 
well out to the time the corn is 10 inches high, 
the spike tooth harrow provides good and cheap 
cultivation, especially if your land is free of trash 
and where the average sand loam predominates, 
which is the soil most commonly found in semi- 
humid sections. 

The riding cultivator, with three shovels on a 
side, is about as good as any now available in 
corn culture. We greatly need up-to-date culti- 
vators that will cover either two or three rows at 
a time, as desired, for from the time the corn is 



4h /Y* Agriculture 

IS inches to 4 feet high quick and effective culti- 
vation is frequently vital. This is the period above 
all others that steady, rapid unchecked growth is 

desirable. 

The first cultivation after the harrow should be 
the deepest, but should not exceed 3 inches in 
any event. Later cultivations should be changed 
very little as to depth, slightly shallower never 
deeper. You should watch very closely what you 
are doing next to the corn row to see to it that you 
are not destroying any of the roots that are sent 
out as the plant increases in size. 

PURPOSE OF CULTIVATION 

One of the great questions in the cultivation 
of corn is to know when and what kind of cultiva- 
tion will bring about the greatest improvement in 
soil conditions for steady rapid growth. The 
simple fact that you cultivate the corn, potatoes 
and other crops, rive or six times and your neigh- 
bor only two times, does not of itself account for 
success or failure. That which brings sure re- 
sults is the right kind, manner and time of culti- 
vation. Don't know this, you say — then you 
must learn it by observation and experience, and 
when you do it will be like finding a gold mine. 
Five cultivations intelligently and carefully ap- 
plied will always bring better results in corn or 
potatoes that two cultivations. Good crop results 
from tillage are in proportion to knowledge of the 
true principles, the "why" as well as the "how" 
and the intelligent handling of the tools. 

A glance at Cut No. 18, will give you a practical 



/ } rogremve A gr ieu tin re 4 7 

illustration of the effect of ample timely tilfcge on 
a crop of corn. This wa grown on the C. B. & Q. 
farm at Holdrege, Nebraska m the drouthy years 
of 1910. The ground was double disked early 
and kept cultivated to hold moisture and keep out 
the weeds until about May 10, then planted with 

a lister, after which an effort was made to keep 
the surface loose and allow no weeds to grow, the 

ridges were worked down reasonably early before 
the corn was knee high. Although the rains were 

very few and far between before the com v 
tasseled and ears well out, yet cultivation folio-. 

Closely after each rain. Had there not been a 

liberal amount of moisture in the soil at the time 
of the first disking, the. result of ample, fall rains, 

we could not have grown the crop so completely. 

Now compare Xo. 19 with this crop, those two 
fields are on the same level prairie and on adjoin- 
ing quarters, only about 80 rods apart. No. 19, 
had the same amount of liberal moisture in the 
soil in the spring, but no disking, plowing or any- 
thing else was done to this field until the corn 
was listed in, at which time there was a liberal 
growth of weeds averaging about 6 inches high. 
The loss of moisture by direct evaporation and 
what was drawn out by the weeds reduced the 
moisture to that degree that the July drouth got 
the corn and by the tenth of August there was 
practically nothing green in the field, scarcely a 
tassel made its appearance. Did the weather 
make this wide difference? Yes, in a way, the hot 
weather and little rain dried up and ruined No. 
19, and the same weather caused No. 18 to grow 
and mature, but timely tillage made it possible. 



48 Progressive Agriculture 

Many have said in the past years; " What's 
the use, if it rains, we will get crops; if it doesn't 
rain, we will not." No more foolhardy idea was 
ever conceived. A glance at Cuts 18 and 19 is 
certainly somewhat convincing. To get the seed 
bed in good condition and keep it cultivated and 
clean of weeds, means nearly or quite as much to 
the size and quantity of the crop of corn in a 
wet year as in a dry year. 

The growing season of 1915 had the highest 
rainfall recorded in 26 years over a large portion 
of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy railroad 
territory west of the Missouri river, and it gave a 
beautiful opportunity to observe and gather all 
kinds of positive evidence that the same careful 
application of principles in tillage that were 
applied for bestxrop results in drouthy years has 
brought proportionate larger yields in wet years 
and that where there was carelessness and less work 
applied the crops were smaller despite the abund- 
ance of moisture. In fact, in many sections the 
corn crop was not as good as in the dryer years. 

One of the interesting points which has been 
established by this unusual season of 1915 is 
that you must keep up your work, and to get 
behind in timely work means loss every time, wet 
or dry. In any and all seasons it is important to 
keep out the weeds and to keep the mulch loose 
and somewhat coarse. 

CULTIVATION OF LISTED CORN 

The use of the common spike tooth harrow 
early in cultivation of listed corn is hardly prac- 



Progressive Agriculture 49 

tical; therefore, we must resort to such imple- 
ments as are commonly used. One point fully 
established, however, is that it is necessary to 
split the ridge a little earlier in the game than has 
been done heretofore. See Cut No. 20 and ob- 
serve the modest root growth from the smaller 
plant, then note the root growth from the larger 
one. In the latter you see that the roots have 
gone up near the surface of the solid soil in the 
firm center ridge. This condition is especially 
true if there have been no heavy rains to pack 
the loose dirt thrown up over the center at the 
■time of listing. 

This somewhat loose condition of this top soil 
or mulch holds the moisture with the natural 
result that this firm soil, by being kept moist and 
becoming quite warm, because of the direct 
rays of the sun on both sides, soon becomes a most 
ideal feeding place for the roots, therefore, when 
they reach this point they spread and grow rapidly; 
millions of little feeders permeate this ridge, and at 
this precise stage of root development the plants 
may be seen to be putting forth a very rank, 
rapid, healthy growth: more especially you will 
note the dark green color. 

The corn at this stage is usually 12 to 20 inches 
high — then you proceed to split the ridge with 
the result of destroying a very large per cent of 
the principal feeding roots, and what happens? 
If the weather should be hot and dry, the corn 
is seen to wilt more or less and the growth is 
checked. This set-back if dry weather continues 
may mean much to the final crop. If, however, 



50 Progressive Agriculture 

good timely rains follow, the check in growth or 
change will be less noticeable. 

Endeavor to split the ridge before this period 
or condition of growth is reached, then you slip 
by the hazardous risk. Watch and study these 
conditions, for like many other chance conditions 
they can be largely overcome by timely and appro- 
priate tillage. 

LATE CULTIVATION OF CORN 

Do not forget, much less neglect, your corn 
field after the corn is too high for the riding 
cultivator. Be especially vigilant if you have a 
heavy rainfall that has a tendency to dissolve 
and settle, or to puddle the mulch after the last 
cultivation. Corn at this stage needs the closest 
care. If you have made no gross mistakes up to 
the time the corn is in full tassel, you have a fine 
chance for a good crop. Mistakes made prior to 
this time cannot be fully remedied by any amount 
of later care. 

For this late work in the corn field a 13-tooth 
garden cultivator is very good, but you must hold 
the rear teeth high enough to clear all main roots. 
A very good device for this last work in corn is an 
old mower wheel. Just hitch to a spoke and let 
the chain or rope come up over the rim at the front, 
making the hitch of the horse short enough so the 
lower edge of the front of the wheel will only clear 
the surface. This throws the bottom of the rear 
part of the rim forward with enough slant to just 
cut the surface and carry the dirt over the rim, 
dropping it loose behind. 



Progressive Agriculture 51 

The number of cultivations of this late kind 
must depend on the soil and climatic conditions; 
not infrequently however, one or two is ample. 

The same importance attaches to later cultiva- 
tion of listed corn as that given for check row corn. 
Later cultivation cannot be detrimental except 
that roots are destroyed. In the growing of corn 
for ensilage, the same careful and persistent pre- 
paration and cultivation will always pay, as it will 
mean more growth in fodder and more corn on 
the stalk for the silo. 



CHAPTER V 
NEW PROBLEMS IN CORN CULTURE 

Tradition has closed our eyes to a great many 
things that would make life sweeter and business 
better. It has gotten us into deep and long 
trodden ruts, and corn planting time in most sec- 
tions, is apparently one. Our father and his 
father planted their corn about May first to May 
tenth. We have been doing the same without a 
thought that under certain specific conditions it 
might be better to plant June first to June tenth. 

In theory it would take a month later in the 
fall to mature the corn should we delay a month 
in the spring from the old fixed manner and the 
time of planting. But theory does not always 
work out the correct conclusions. 

We have directed a number of practical ex- 
periments in recent seasons, in the semi-humid 



52 Progressive Agriculture 

section, to determine just what is best as to the 
plan of prolonged spring tillage and later planting. 
These experiments demonstrate that where the 
fields are carefully tilled from early spring up to 2 
to 4 weeks past the usual time of corn planting, 
the soil is warmer and more favorable to plant 
growth, and a better physical and higher fertile 
condition is brought about. The effect of this is 
to force the growth of corn to a degree that accli- 
mated corn will, under these conditions, mature at 
a date nearly or quite as early in the average 
season, if planted 2 to 4 weeks later than if planted 
at the usual time under more common conditions. 
And the late corn, as is shown, is likely to be more 
healthy and more capable of resisting disease, 
drouth and pests. 

RESULTS OF SPRING TILLAGE AND LATE PLANTING 

In this book we have given some illustrations 
from photographs of field showing what results 
are actually obtained by adapting the planting 
time to the conditions which are found. These 
pictures tell the story much better than it could 
be told in any other way. They will repay careful 
study and stand thorough investigation. The 
location is given in each case, so there can be 
verifications by anyone interested. 

A field of corn at Orleans, Nebraska, 237 miles 
west of the Missouri river, is shown in Cut No. 12. 
This field was planted July 1, 1914. The photo- 
graph was taken August 23, or 54 days from plant- 
ing, when the corn was nearly 6 feet high and 
beginning to tassel. When corn is planted under 



Progressive Agriculture 53 

ordinary conditions on May 10, the farmer 
usually finds that on July 4, or 54 days from 
planting, the corn is up 18 to 24 inches, commonly 
termed " knee-high", or one fourth to one third as 
high as shown in this field at Orleans. This field 
was carefully spring tilled from early spring to 
time of planting. Do you understand the sig- 
nificance of this fact? 

Now we do not use Cut No. 12 to establish as a 
rule or principle that July 1 is the proper corn 
planting time. But it does show the truth of our 
previous statement as to the time it takes to make 
the same growth after the soil has been well and 
timely tilled and becomes warm, and the seed bed 
has been put into a more perfect condition by 
the tillage and the liberation of plant food by 
certain chemical action is under way, as against 
earlier planting with less preparatory tillage and 
colder soil. 

The same field is shown again in Cut No. 13, 
but the photograph was taken 30 days later, or 
84 days from planting, showing the ears which 
matured. The corn in this case was not an early 
variety, but the common yellow dent. 

Four other fields were planted the same year, 
on June twenty-ninth and thirtieth, at points 
some 50 miles apart, not expecting, however, to 
raise finished corn but to obtain a better and more 
tender ensilage; but strange as it may seem every 
field not only matured corn, but at no time did 
the foliage show the ill effect of the prolonged hot, 
dry weather. 

It must be remembered that the season of 1914 



54 Progressive Agriculture 

was very hot and dry and at the time these five 
fields were at their best and well tasseled, most 
early planted corn was badly fired, while these 
five fields all remained green up to the late hard 
frost. The same rain fell on the fields that were 
so badly fired the last of August that fell on the 
five fields which made so much better growth and 
kept green well into October. 

Cut No. 14 is a field of corn at Sligo, Colorado, 
in the northeastern part of the state 150 miles 
north of Denver, planted May 12, 1915, on early 
disked ground and well fitted. As a further 
evidence of the correctness of our proposition re- 
garding the more rapid growth of later planting, 
when proper preparatory work is done, kindly 
contrast this with Cut No. 15, a field adjoining No. 
14. This field was planted June 6, or 25 days 
later, but with the continued spring tilling of the 
soil from early spring up to time of planting. 
While the rainfall on these fields was almost 
double that of normal years, yet note the apparent 
stunted growth of the earlier planted field. 

Cut No. 16 is a row of shocks of corn cut from 
the field planted June 6, and photographed the 
same day as Nos. 14 and 15. This is given to 
show the marked growth of corn that can be 
obtained at the high altitude of 5,400 feet, in a 
cool season like 1915, and a total rainfall of 13| 
inches from January first to September twenty- 
fifth. These cuts, Nos. 14, 15 and 16, tell their 
own story. It is proper to explain that the photo 
for Cut No. 15 was taken after all the field except 
the three rows, had been cut, consequently the 



Progressive Agriculture 55 

thin appearance of the com field. It is well to 
add that this same farmer, Mr. W. W. Cockran, 
with only 1\ inches of rain during the growing 
season in 1914, raised 540 bushels of good corn on 
30 acres, also 700 bushels of wheat from 20 acres 
and 120 bushels of potatoes per acre. 

In connection with these three pictures and the 
brief facts given, don't fail to recognize that 
tillage of the right kind at the proper time and 
planting when the soil conditions had been made 
more favorable by this tillage, were ruling factors 
in the wide difference as to these results. The 
same weather conditions prevailed over both fields, 
as there was a distance of only 3 feet and 6 inches 
between them. 

OTHER RESULTS OBTAINED 

A field of corn at Holdrege, Nebraska, is shown 
in the illustration, Cut No. 17. This was in the 
dry year of 1914. The ground was disked early 
and kept clean of weeds with a loose surface layer 
maintained, corn listed June thirtieth, photo- 
graphed August 7, or 38 days after planting. The 
average height of the corn at the time the photo- 
graph was taken was 46 inches, or about double 
the height of the average corn on July fourth 
that had been planted May tenth. In other words, 
this corn made twice the growth in 38 days 
that the average early planted corn would make 
in 54 days. The ideal seed and root bed brought 
about by careful tillage, the warm soil and in- 
creased available plant food were the ruling 
factors in this remarkable growth in so short a 
period. 



56 Progressive Agriculture 

Mr. Haun, at Haxton, Colorado, planted a 
part of his corn May 4, 1915, and the rest of it 
June first, with a similar experience, that of having 
his later planting grow tallest and rankest and 
maturing corn at about the same date as the 
early planted. 

Mr. Forrest of Brush, Colorado, planted part 
of his corn May 7, 1915 and the balance June 10, 
all in the same field, with same seed, an early 
maturing and acclimated variety. Four men were 
selected to estimate the crop of the two plantings 
on September twenty-fourth. They agreed that 
the late planting had produced more than three 
times as much fodder and more than two times 
as much corn ; that the late planting was less than 
one week behind in maturing although planted 
five weeks later; and that the early planted field 
was badly smutted while the later planting 
practically had no smut. 

Similar conditions were reported as to the ab- 
sence of smut in a number of other late planted 
fields. Thus it would seem that the earlier planted 
being more or less stunted and consequently less 
vigorous and weaker was more susceptible to 
disease than the late. This smut problem is a 
question that is worthy of your careful considera- 
tion, for it is very common some years in the 
central west to find the majority of corn fields 
developing much smut. The situation we have 
just referred to indicates that a more vigorous, 
healthy plant, the same as man or animal, has 
greater ability to ward off or resist disease. We 
have a number of letters from farmers expressing 



Progressive Agriculture 57 

great surprise at the quickness and rankness of 
the growth of plants on well handled fields and 
late planted in 1913 and 1914 with their drouthy 
conditions and excessive heat; but with the cool 
season of 1915 and its excessive rainfall which has 
brought about such a difference in favor of early 
and continuous careful tillage and later planting 
by three and four weeks, which has been reported 
by more than forty farmers, we are earnestly in- 
clined to urge all farmers to try experiments, 
that they may see with their own eyes how easy 
they can not only slip by a modest drouth without 
injury to the crop, but very materially increase 
the growth and final yield. 

Remember distinctly our faith in the apparent 
advantage of this later planting is based almost 
wholly on the effect of early and continued timely 
tillage. 

CORN FOR GRAIN AND ENSILAGE 

Basing our conclusions on the results of the 
experiments just noted, and taking the south line 
of Nebraska and the center of the state as a base 
where semi-humid conditions usually prevail and 
where corn planting time has been, as a rule, 
about May tenth, we would urge the trial of 
continued cultivation for 2 to 4 weeks, regardless 
of the fact that you are delaying the usual time 
of planting, depending for the wide range of two 
weeks upon the soil, season and location. 

But to those who try it, we say to give it a 
careful and thorough trial, and study well what 
we have said regarding the preparatory work, 



58 Progressive Agriculture 

under the head of Spring Tillage, and how much 
it means to the more rapid growth by the later 
planting, for this is the basis for the increased 
certainty and yield of corn, and all evidence so 
far is in its favor. Have you not, by accident 
at some time, planted your corn late and got 
good results? Then don't forget that the early 
and continuous cultivation gives you a still greater 
advantage. 

Then as one goes north and west from the base 
point referred to, you should shorten the prepar- 
atory period slightly, while going south or east 
give about the same period of cultivation beyond 
the usual planting time. It is very apparent that 
this plan will carry farther east in the corn belt 
proper, but where the atmosphere is more moist 
the delay should be slightly less. As we go north 
or rise in altitude in the section of low humidity 
and lighter rainfall, we have found our most 
marked and interesting results. 

In planting for ensilage there is unquestionable 
advantage in the very thorough tillage prepara- 
tion and delay in planting. Every known experi- 
ment on this line properly carried out has been 
a success. In some localities for ensilage it may 
be advisable to continue cultivation and delay 
planting for at least a week or ten days later 
than where mature corn is the object. 

If careful consideration is given to our base 
point as to planting time and modest considera- 
tion given to the local conditions and the proper 
tillage the increase in tonnage in normal years by 
reason of prolonged tillage and later planting will 



Progressive Agriculture 59 

be very marked, while in the more drouthy 
seasons, it will be a happy surprise to all who have 
not seen it worked out. 

Much stress must be put upon the question of 
early disking and careful preparation. This will 
materially aid in promoting early rapid growth. 

The delay of 2 to 4 weeks in planting should be 
solely for the purpose of permitting a longer period 
for tillage and that the soil may become sufficiently 
warm to give quick germination and rapid early 
.growth. 

Corn that is stunted by the unfavorable 
physical and a cool soil condition will never fully 
recover by any amount of after good tillage. 

Good, early, careful preparation of the soil for 
corn counts in wet years as well as in dry years. 

Careless and delayed preparation for corn means 
a small or no crop at all in drouthy years. 

Corn was once king in Iowa; it can make 
kings in much of the semi-humid section. 



CHAPTER VI 

TIME OF PLANTING 

We have already discussed the question of pro- 
longing the preparatory period prior to planting 
the average crop. This you can readily see means 
planting the crop a little later, in some instances 
two weeks and in other two months, depending on 
the kind of crop. This seems almost ridiculous, 
but go with us carefully through. It is not our 



60 Progressive Agriculture 

purpose to discuss the question of later planting 
for better results but rather of prolonging the 
period of preparation sufficiently to obtain a much 
more ideal soil condition, for not only storing in 
close proximity to the feeding zone of the plant 
roots a greater supply of moisture and plant food, 
but to get the benefit of the warm weather in 
bringing about a more favorable condition for 
rapid development of rootlets and their feeders, 
and at the same time having a soil condition that 
will provide additional plant food to keep up the 
supply as the plants begin to reach up with a 
more rapid growth. 

In the development of this kind of work or what 
we term Spring Tillage, there is one great advant- 
age we are seeking, and that is to bridge over 
seasons of light rainfall, also the hot drouthy 
periods that so commonly play havoc with our 
crops the later part of June through July, and 
early August in all semi-humid sections. 

For a time it seemed that for sections of lighter 
rainfall summer tillage was the solution, and in 
the production of fall planted crops, it has proved 
remarkably successful where the work was cor- 
rectly done, and we know there is much more merit 
to summer tillage than has been commonly brought 
out. The difficulties militating against its success 
are two; first, a lack of full and thorough under- 
standing of the principles and the observation of 
every detail; second, lack of adequate tools for 
handling the land more especially after the land 
has been plowed and sub-packed, to then com- 
pletely keep out all weeds without destroying the 
seed bed by too deep cultivation. 



Progressive Agriculture 61 

Experience with summer tilling, however, is 
what has brought out the spring tillage idea, which 
points to a successful harvest every year for all 
spring planted crops, barring hail storms. 

We have already found that for large results 
from spring tillage there is a necessary preciseness 
in the work the same as there is in any other line 
of work. It is -also true that some of the ideas 
are radically different from all past practice. 
This is especially true as to the delay in planting 
time of nearly all crops, to permit of time for the 
necessary tillage to obtain the best results each 
and every year. 

In the following chapters we shall refer to very 
marked results in the hot drouthy years of 1913 
and 1914, where fields have had early and careful 
preparation followed by continued timely cultiva- 
tion, to a considerable later period of planting 
not only produced large crops but were the only 
fields to fully resist the ill effect of hot weather. 

In later chapters we will go more into detail as 
to the reasons for early and perfect fitting of the 
soil and this to be followed by late planting, as 
it relates to crops of corn, potatoes, cane and 
other things. We shall urge reasonably later 
planting, always to permit of the prolonged spring 
fitting, by from two to six weeks than has been 
the practice prior to 1915, depending always on 
the kind of crop. A better and more perfect seed 
bed is made possible, by the delay of planting to 
permit of a longer period of preparation. This is 
especially applicable in sections of light rainfall 
in growing feed for cattle and hogs. 



62 Progressive Agriculture 

The length of time of extended cultivation must 
depend absolutely on the location, conditions and 
kind of crops to be grown. Our conclusions as to 
value of this prolonged thorough fitting and later 
planting are based on results actually shown in 
dozens of practical field tests in the hot, dry 
summers of 1913 and 1914, with many other tests 
in the cool wet summer of 1915. These tests 
covered a wide scope of conditions and country, 
and therefore, we can say without hesitancy, 
that the plan is not in the least detrimental in 
cool, wet seasons but is a most marked advantage 
and success in hot, dry seasons, if the right kind 
of tillage is made use of with intelligence. 

Later planting with due consideration as to 
kind of crop and location following proper pre- 
paration, means more to the farmer in the semi- 
humid sections than any other one thing possible 
in increasing the magnitude and certainty of crops 
in any and all years. While this is a comparatively 
new problem we believe firmly in this conclusion. 

Like many other lines of effort to better the 
average crop production, the prolonged tillage 
idea before planting must have local consideration 
and adjustment. The time of planting in your 
field may be of necessity from three to ten days 
later or earlier than in a field not many miles 
away, because of local conditions regarding the 
soil, summer warmth and autumn frost. 

We urge every farmer to try out these prin- 
ciples, as to late planting, to permit of prolonging 
the period of preparation for there is much in 
them, in the way of greatly increased growth 



Progressive Agriculture 63 

from the same amount of water, but begin your 
experiments with care and with the idea that you 
should continue the preparatory tillage as late as 
you can with reasonable assurance of time from 
planting for the plants to reach the maturity 
most desirable for harvesting that specific crop 
whether it be corn, cane, fodder crops, potatoes 
or garden. Work out the problem of the lateness 
of preparation for each farm and crop by small 
experiments carefully handled and results re- 
corded. Some seasons the continuous hot weather 
comes earlier than other seasons and the soil may 
reach the ideal warm conditions earlier, when 
earlier planting may be advisable. But let us 
again emphasize that the value of later planting 
comes from the farmer's ability to destroy more 
weeds and store more water in the soil and further 
improve the condition of the seed bed under which 
conditions a greater amount of plant food is made 
available, and a much more rapid growth attained. 

As has been stated before, the advantages are 
many why the growing season should be made as 
short as possible. Some of these might be stated 
as follows: 

Less danger of injury from unfavorable con- 
ditions, such as hot winds, storms, hail, insect pests. 

Greater opportunity io destroy weeds and a 
smaller opportunity for the weeds to take advant- 
age of the field crops and crowd them out. 

Far less danger of stunting the growth, a 
stronger, healthier plant because of quick growing, 
therefore, a greater resistance to plant disease 
and increased certainty of larger yield. 



64 Progressive Agriculture 

A larger amount of available moisture and plant 
food at time of planting, due to the longer prepar- 
atory period in which the moisture is stored and 
the plant food is made available. 

It must be remembered that the availability 
of the elements in the soil for the use of the plants, 
depends largely on the preparation of the soil and 
the final physical condition obtained. Some plant 
food, it is true, is available in practically all soils 
nearly all the time; but for best results, especially 
in semi-humid regions, the largest possible amount 
of plant food must be made available to assure 
greater returns. This happens when there has 
been such treatment of the soil that the water and 
air are mingled in right proportions so that under 
influence of the sun's rays and the electrical 
forces, there will be quick and radical but favor- 
able changes in the soil itself. That is what 
takes place naturally in the middle of the summer. 
The farmer can help it along wonderfully. So if 
he takes, say eight weeks in which to do his 
preparatory work of getting the field ready and 
coaching the elements, he can accomplish a great 
deal more than he could do in three or four 
weeks' time. Then, also, a week under weather 
conditions that come in the later part of May and 
early June, when the sun is reaching near its 
highest point, and the days are longer, is worth 
a great deal more in the development of plant 
food and growth of the plants than two or three 
weeks in March or early April, and yet the very 
early tillage means very much in not only holding 
the moisture that is in the soil, but in putting 



Progressive Agriculture 65 

the soil in better condition to take in the later 
rains. 

The growth of all plants can be crowded, they 
can be urged and encouraged. Their growth can 
be hastened in many ways. That is why some 
fields of corn will mature in 90 days while others 
require 120 days or more. Much attention should 
be given to the selection of quick growing varieties. 
The great value of the quick growing crops is that 
they may be planted late, when the available 
plant food is most abundant and the general 
weather conditions most favorable, which is in 
mid-summer, and if the soil conditions are at their 
best they get through to maturity in much less 
time. 



CHAPTER VII 

WHEAT 

Wheat was the first crop grown by the early 
settlers throughout the great central west, so 
far as history can be traced, and when the soil 
was new and did not as readily assume unfavorable 
conditions, the yield was good and promised the 
pioneer great and quick profits. Some early 
yields and profits from wheat on the virgin soils 
of Minnesota and Iowa, coupled with advent of 
the self binder, prompted the speculator and the 
capitalist to monopolize and operate large tracts 
of land. 

In 1877 leading stockholders of the Northern 
Pacific Railway sought to induce settlement of 



66 Progressive Agriculture 

the long stretch of then uninhabited land 
running almost from the suburbs of St. Paul, 
Minnesota to the Pacific coast. Flattering offers 
were made for its development, and in 1878 the 
great Dalrymple wheat farm on the fertile level 
prairies just west of Fargo, of 40,000 acres, sprang 
suddenly into existence. Other great spring wheat 
farms followed, ranging down to one and two 
thousand acres each. Many of the first yields 
were 35 to 45 bushels per acre, some much less; 
fortunes, however, were seemingly sure and close 
at hand, a fact that doubtless led many of us off 
on the wrong plan of one crop farming. 

Millions of acres of Northern Pacific and Union 
Pacific lands were soon purchased and thousands 
of homesteads, preemptions and tree claims of 
160 acres each, were filed on, and the country 
from up near the Canadian line down to Okla- 
homa, filled with eager speculators and home 
makers. 

Railroads were projected, and for the first time 
in history they were built into the interior beyond 
settlement. Cities and towns sprang up like 
magic, everybody seemingly had money or was 
going to get it. But there came an end to all this, 
the history of which we will not repeat. 

The principal factors in all the grief that fol- 
lowed were the mistakes made in handling the 
land. We were all strangers in a strange land, 
there were so many things we did not know. 
While we do not believe in the one crop farming, 
yet a wide range of experience convinces us that 
wheat on a small scale can yet be grown at a profit, 



Progressive Agriculture 67 

and in the following pages we shall endeavor to 
prove this as certain, not by theory but by 
practical results. 

WINTER WHEAT AND TILLAGE 

Methods of tillage have very much more to do 
with crop results in semi-humid sections than 
weather conditions. In illustrating this fact, let 
us call attention to certain pictures. Look at 
Cuts No. 24 and 25 carefully. They represent 
winter wheat tracts on 160 acres each, both 
fields grown in the wet year of 1915 near Yuma, 
Colorado on adjoining sections, with soil of the 
same formation and both on land broken from the 
prairie sod in 1914. The field illustrated in No. 
24, made 39J bushels per acre, while No. 25 only 
made 13 bushels per acre. Fifteen inches of rain 
fell on both fields during April, May and June. 
One field responded most beautifully because the 
physical condition was such that nature could 
come much nearer doing her best. Have you ever 
seen such contrasts in adjoining fields and some- 
times in different parts of the same field? Is it 
possible to get around the wide difference in the 
results of these two fields by saying it is only one 
of many similar freaks? This is too ridiculous; 
there is a cause for No. 24 and another cause for 
No. 25, and apparently both had their definite 
effects, therefore, the cause and effect are ex- 
plained later on. 

Now give careful consideration to Cuts Nos. 
26 and 27, to which is attached some interesting 
history. These fields are closer related even than 



68 Progressive Agriculture 

Nos. 24 and 25, so far as soil is considered, be- 
cause of the fact that the tillers of both attempted 
to follow the same plan. They both had been 
cropped a number of years and are on adjoining 
quarters of the same level section one mile south- 
east of Yuma, Colorado, handled by different men. 

Both fields were summer tilled in 1913, each 
man endeavored to, and thought he was doing all 
he could to get a soil condition that would bring 
the biggest and best crop of wheat, but look at 
the result. Field No. 26, apparently (not hap- 
pened to) was put in very much better condition 
and when you read about J. M. Moyer who 
handled this field you will more fully appreciate 
this fact. 

The two fields after being summer tilled in 
1913, were seeded in the fall, and in 1914 each 
field produced as follows: No. 26, 47| bushels 
per acre; No. 27, 24 \ bushels or a little more than 
half as much. The 47 i bushel crop is shown in 
Cut No. 30, in the rear field, where it is contrasted 
with the adjoining or front field, cropped in the 
usual manner yielding only 16J bushels. About 
the same expense in labor in summer tilling was 
put on field No. 26 and 27 in 1913, the time, kind 
and manner of doing the work making the wide 
difference. One knew what to do and what not 
to do; the other thought he did, but made 
mistakes] as many others have done. 

Now as to the next year. Both fields were 
refitted the same season, 1914, each doing what he 
thought was best to prepare for seed and sowed 
that fall to winter wheat. In the two pictures 



Progressive Agriculture 69 

given we have shown the result of the 1915 crop. 
The field shown in No. 26 yielded 30 bushels per 
acre and that in No. 27 yielded only 11 J. This 
added to the 1914 crop of 24§ bushels makes a 
total of 36 bushels in two consecutive years, 
following one season of summer tilling. And yet, 
No. 26 yielded 47J bushels in 1914 and 30 bushels 
in 1915, a total of 77 J in the two years, or 43| 
bushels more than No. 27 for really knowing how. 
This at 85 cents per bushel would be $36.98 per 
acre, or the three years' interest on the land at 
6% on a valuation of $205.33 per acre, not the 
total return but more than the other at practically 
no extra cost. 

The question naturally arises here as to why 
this difference? The yields were not accidents. 
There is a clear and distinct reason and this 
reason slightly enlarged is the "Why" some men 
are raising good crops in the most drouthy years 
in western Nebraska and eastern Colorado, and 
better ones in the good years, while others have 
gone there, tried to do the same work, and failed 
entirely. In short this striking illustration clinches 
the fact that there is a right and a wrong way of 
doing things. It also tells a valuable story in the 
lesson of summer tilling or summer fallowing, 
which, as commonly understood, means to culti- 
vate one season to store the rain waters for use the 
next year, for it shows there is more to it, also that 
it is important to have every part of the work, 
tillage, quantity of seed, time of seeding, all care- 
fully done. Unless it is all timely and correctly 
done you are liable to be sadly disappointed in 



70 Progressive Agriculture 

final yields, but if every detail is done correctly, 
and it can be, success is as sure in the semi-humid 
sections as in almost any other place. These 
four pictures just mentioned are shown together 
with Cuts Nos. 30, 31, 32, and 33 to establish more 
fully a fact that unfortunately has not been 
sufficiently well understood in the past, and that 
is, the crop is in proportion to the tillage or treat- 
ment the land has been given, the quantity of 
seed sown and time of seeding. Therefore, if you 
or your friends failed years ago, don't insist that 
others must likewise fail now. 

FURTHER EVIDENCE 

Cut No. 28, has a very interesting story that 
must be recognized as a further proof of our 
attitude as to how easy it is to make a mistake, 
and how a mistake may easily mislead anyone 
who is not familiar with the progressive ideas. 

This field belongs to a neighbor of Mr. Mover's, 
at Yuma, Colorado who came to Mr. Moyer in 
the spring of 1914 with the statement that he 
wanted 40 acres of his prairie land broken for 
winter wheat, but he had no money. Mr. Moyer, 
replied he would break the land and fit it for fall 
seeding and take for his pay one third of the threshed 
wheat, providing this party would seed at the 
time and with the quantity of seed per acre that 
he requested. The deal was thus completed. 
Mr. Moyer did the work. When the breaking 
was finished, the owner was through his spring 
seeding, so he broke 10 acres more alongside of 
the breaking done by contract, and fitted as to his 



Progressive Agriculture 71 

own notion and seeded as he thought best in the 
fall at the time the Moyer part was also seeded. 
In face of the unusual heavy rains of 1915, there 
was a very wide difference in the yield of the two 
pieces, so much that they were cut and threshed 
separately. Mr. Mover's third was more bushels per 
acre than the total yield per acre of the additional 
ten acres. 

Cut No. 28 shows the crop on the Moyer part 
just before cutting. Knowing that the same 
heavy rain fell on the entire 50 acres, we ask the 
question, was the weather responsible for the 
wide difference in the yield or was it the tillage? 
Again the question, is not this evidence suffi- 
ciently clear to establish the fact that the right 
principles and methods will bring results that 
wrong methods will not? You must know how- 
ever, what is right and what is wrong. 

Cut No. 29 is J. M. Mover's 1915 winter wheat, 
50 acres on land broken from the prairie sod in 
1914, average yield 45| bushels per acre, a very 
marked yield for new breaking. Remember this 
when you look at other fields grown by Mr. Moyer. 

The full page Cut No. 30, in colors, rear field 
with its rank healthy growth is Mr. Mover's 1914 
crop on land summer tilled in 1913, and previously 
referred to in connection with Cut No. 26. The 
front field with its somewhat stunted growth is 
also winter wheat on land that had grown a crop 
of wheat in 1913 at the same time the rear field 
was being summer tilled. The two fields were 
sown at the same time, the rank rear field was 
sown with 20 pounds of seed per acre and the 



72 Progressive Agriculture 

front field with 30 pounds per acre. Mr. Moyer 
gave this front field the best care possible as he 
was still trying to satisfy himself whether it paid 
to summer till or not. The summer tilled field 
produced 47J bushels per acre and the front field 
only 16| bushels per acre, or slightly more than 
one-third. This result, in face of a rainfall con- 
siderably below normal convinced Mr. Moyer 
that Colorado prairies like her mountains have 
plenty of gold but to get it in liberal quantities 
it was necessary to learn better when and how to 
till the soil. 

Cut No. 31 shows Mr. Moyer's field of summer 
tilled wheat after it was cut in the hot dry year of 
1913. This field of 15 acres averaged 34^ bushels 
per acre, with plenty of fields in the surrounding 
country going from 8 to 12 bushels per acre. 

Cut No. 32 is Mr. Moyer's 1915 crop on land 
summer tilled in 1914, 51| bushels per acre. 
Don't forget that this is fully double that of the 
majority of wheat fields around Yuma and also 
that the rainfall recorded from the first of April 
to the cutting of this crop is more than double any 
other year. Then why does this summer tilled 
field produce so much more unless there is some- 
thing in the theory of increased fertility from 
summer tilling? Then, again remember that Mr. 
Moyer's high yield in 1915 with its heavy rainfall 
is only 4 bushels more than in 1914 with less than 
half the rain. Is it the weather or tillage? 

This No. 32, is a close second to No. 39, a 
summer tilled field grown in the dry year of 1904 
at Holdrege, Nebraska and yielding 54J bushels 



Progressive Agriculture 73 

per acre of 64 pound wheat, and referred to later 
on. In the eleven intervening years, many a 
farmer has tried to grow wheat by summer tilling 
and failed of any profit and strongly denounced 
the methods and principles all because of mistakes 
and a misunderstanding of the real how, not only 
in tillage but quantity of seed and time of seeding. 
To more fully substantiate the fact that the 
correct time and kind of work means more than 
quantity of work in not only summer tilling but 
in successful crop growing, we take the liberty to 
state that Mr. J. M. Moyer farmed and fitted in 
the autumn of 1914, 210 acres, all of which was 
in crop in 1915 and well handled and largely re- 
fitted again, doing his work alone with the help 
of 3 horses and a gas tractor that pulled five plows, 
except his help for harvesting and threshing. 
Whether Mr. Moyer did good work on so large 
a farm with no other manual labor is evidenced by 
his fields of grain we have shown you in the various 
pictures. Mr. Moyer is not only growing crops 
with larger yields than any one else, but he is 
making all due preparations for a pleasant, 
attractive home in the near future. A glance at 
Cut No. 6, shows a row of Carolina poplars on 
the south of his orchard only five years old and 
fully 18 feet high now. Cut No. 7 is an interest- 
ing view of his five year-old cherry trees just 
north of the Carolina poplars. Mr. Moyer has 
never failed to get fine vegetables and potatoes 
since he learned how. 

Cut No. 21 shows Mr. Moyer cutting his 
champion crop of wheat in 1915, pulling his 



74 Progressive Agriculture 

harvester and a tandem or double disk harrow, 
double disking the stubble as fast as the crop is 
cut, mixing the thick heavy stubble into the top 
three inches of soil. Explanation of the value 
will be gone into under the heading of "Disking 
After the Harvest. " 

Cut No. 33, another full page color cut, shows 
two fields of wheat grown by August Desens, on 
the high divide If miles north of Stratton, Ne- 
braska in the very hot, dry year of 1913. This, 
like No. 30, shows two fields of winter wheat. 
The rear field here was summer tilled in 1912, 
and seeded in early September, and produced in 
1913, 33 bushels of 62 pound wheat per acre, 
while the front field was in wheat in 1912, refitted 
and again sown at the same time the summer 
tilled field was. This field started off well in the 
spring, but like many surrounding fields ran out 
of moisture during the hot weather without rain 
and dried up, never even heading as can be 
clearly seen in the cut. 

The gentleman's feet standing in the front field 
can be plainly seen, while the man in the back, 
or summer tilled field, stands in thick rank wheat 
up to his hips. Such evidence as to the correctness 
of certain methods of tillage cannot be contradict- 
ed. Numerous fields of wheat in this locality 
were not worth cutting, due to the excessive pro- 
longed heat without rain during June and early 
July. 

Cut No. 34 is a most exceedingly interesting 
illustration of what the right kind of tillage will 
do in the growing of a good crop with very small 



Progressive Agriculture 75 

rainfall. This rye was grown by C. L. Morgan, 
Sligo, Colorado, on the Cheyenne branch of the 
C. B. & Q. railway, 46 miles east of Cheyenne, 
Wyoming in the dry season of 1914. The land 
was summer tilled in 1913 and during that year a 
total of only 7f inches of rain fell. The rye was 
put in August 25, 1913, made a very good start 
and by its liberal stooling afforded considerable 
pasture for about 20 head of stock and again in 
the spring was pastured. The total rain from Jan- 
uary first, to the cutting of the rye was only 4f 
inches, making a total for the 19 months, prior to 
cutting of the rye, 12J inches. Again we insist 
the right kind of timely work makes success 
possible. Have we not given you ample proof? 



CHAPTER VIII 

DOES TILLAGE INCREASE FERTILITY? 

When we speak of soil being fertile or rich, we 
very naturally look for large yields from that soil, 
and yet, all over the great semi-humid west we 
have a wonderfully fertile soil that does not as a 
rule produce large crops, because the fertility or 
plant food is not available. Though the elements 
are there, they cannot be reached and utilized by 
the rootlets. 

When we consider the general climatic con- 
ditions that prevail during the growing season, 
usually we find one of two conditions quite un- 
favorable to large quantities of available plant 



76 Progressive Agriculture 

food, either a coarse loose, soil condition carry- 
ing too low per cent of soil or capillary water, or a 
compact surface and weeds which have depleted 
the moisture. 

It is only in recent years that we have realized 
the wide difference in the crop production of the 
soil in the same field where only slight differences 
as to apparent conditions seem to exist and it has 
led us to plan many experiments, to find out how, 
if possible, by tillage, this fertility can be made 
available not only in larger quantities, but more 
continuous, believing much larger yields can be 
obtained if we can only understand this better, 
and^know just what to do. 
* Under the captions of Spring Tillage, Summer 
Tillage and Fall Tillage, we have covered the 
principal points in mechanical work to bring this 
about, and in this chapter we shall reiterate to 
some extent. But our main object is to prove 
here by pictures and explanations that certain 
soil and moisture conditions do govern as to the 
quantity of available plant food. 

Cut No. 39 gives one illustration. This very 
large crop of winter wheat was grown on the C. 
B. & Q. farm at Holdrege, Nebraska, in the some- 
what dry year of 1904, on land summer tilled in 
1903, and seeded September tenth with 25 pounds 
of seed per acre. 

Note carefully the two especially interesting 
features of this 40 acre field, height and evenness 
of stand. The yield was 54J bushels per acre of 
wheat that weighed 64 pounds to the measured 
bushel. Fifteen to twenty bushels was the com- 



Progressive Agriculture 77 

mon yield of surrounding fields weighing 58 to 
sixty pounds per bushel. 

The early spring started off very favorable and 
all surrounding wheat looked fine but just before 
heading there came a dry period causing a check 
in the growth of nearly all fields but this one, 
because of a more perfect soil condition. It was 
also because of a surplus of moisture stored by 
the summer tilling the year before, as we then 
supposed, — more recently however, we have de- 
cided that this very marked growth was not so 
much the direct result of the large amount of 
additional available moisture during the growth 
of the wheat, but rather what the moisture had 
done during the summer tilling period and before 
the wheat was planted, when during midsummer 
we were able to keep the surface loose and prevent 
any weed growth whatever. The high per cent 
of capillary water which supplied the necessary 
moisture for a heavy bacterial growth or chemical 
action and made available the large amount of 
fertility, was undoubtedly the more direct 
cause of the rank growth shown in the picture 
than the water itself. 

One square look at this field convinces one that 
some very unusual condition existed. 

MORE EVIDENCE 

As further proof of the correctness of this 
theory, note Cut No. 38, a winter wheat field six 
miles east of Akron, Colorado in 1912. Look 
closely and observe the high thick stand of the 
stubble in the foreground, then the numerous 



78 Progressive Agriculture 

large shocks. This field has an interesting history, 
as it was summer tilled in 1911 with a great 
amount of care, for the main purpose of ascertain- 
ing whether a certain soil condition in the heated 
part of the season during the summer tilling would 
bring about a more marked, rank growth the 
following year. Our theory in this was based on 
the keeping of the mulch at a fixed depth, loose 
and dry as much of the time as the more or less 
rains and timely cultivation would permit, there- 
by, holding the high per cent of capillary water in the 
top of the firm soil beneath the mulch contin- 
uously to permit a process of chemical or bacterial 
action, expecting to materially increase the avail- 
able fertility. 

Whether we were successful or not is evidenced 
by the growth of this wheat crop when we realize 
that moisture was stored to a depth of only 32 
inches during the summer tilling process in 1911, 
and the rainfall up to the cutting of this crop in 
1912 was very light and the last thirty days it 
was very warm giving our ideas a most thorough 
test. 

A further fact is, that only 18 pounds of seed 
were sown per acre and that the field was twice 
harrowed in the spring to thin it, for early in its 
spring growth it showed too thick a stand from 
its prolific stooling. At one end of the field where 
the seed was quite thin, one stool was found with 
213 stalks from one seed and numerous stools in 
the other part of the field with one hundred and 
over. As you look at this picture, think over 
carefully our statements. 



Progressive Agriculture 79 

Cut No. 36 also bears out the same point re- 
garding the question of increased fertility by 
tillage. Here are shown two stools of wheat pulled 
the eighteenth day of November, 1910, at Hold- 
rege, Nebraska from two adjoining fields, one 
from the C. B. & Q. farm, the other from a field 
immediately west of it. Both were seeded about 
the tenth of September; one, however, was sum- 
mer tilled land, the other was land that had grown 
a crop in 1910, then plowed and fitted for crop 
again, and work well done by a good farmer. 
About the twentieth of September, ten days after 
seeding, a very good rain fell, about If inches. 
The larger stool which is from the summer tilled 
field is not exceptionally large, but a fair average 
sample and contains eighty-three well developed 
stools, or stalks, while the smaller stool contains 
only six stalks, and it would have been difficult 
to have obtained a larger stool in this field ; it was 
above the average. 

While it is fair to concede that the seed and root 
bed in the summer tilled field was finer and firmer, 
and carried at the start more moisture in the top 
six to eight inches all of which was more favorable 
to the rapid growth and development of the roots, 
yet after the rain the twentieth of September, the 
conditions regarding the firmness of the seed bed 
and available moisture would have been nearly 
alike in both fields because of the dissolving and 
settling effect of the heavy rain on the late fitted 
field and practically all the rain must have soaked 
in. Think of fully fourteen times as great a 
growth in the same time, a large per cent of which 



80 Progressive Agriculture 

must have been due to the greatly increased 
amount of available plant food in the summer 
tilled field. 

While we are giving you many practical illustra- 
tions, dozens more could be given along the same 
line. 

Cut No. 37, previously referred to, is further 
evidence of increased fertility under specific soil, 
moisture and climatic conditions. In this illus- 
tration the evidence is along the line of diminish- 
ing the amount of available plant food or fertility 
by carrying a too low per cent of moisture in the 
soil. Briefly explaining No. 37, some 30 acres of 
land were being summer tilled by C. L. Morgan 
at Sligo, Colorado in 1910, a season of very light 
rainfall. About half of the field became somewhat 
weedy because of a combination of rains and other 
work to be done, while he had kept the weeds out 
of the balance of the field ; however, the same depth 
of mulch had been kept over the entire 30 acres. 
The weedy part was plowed first, plowing of the 
balance of the field followed immediately, same 
depth of plowing and other work was all identical, 
the seeding done at the same time and stools 
pulled 43 days after seeding. The average stool 
in the part kept clean was about 21 stalks, while 
in the part where the weeds had grown the average 
stool indicated about 6, which is unquestionably 
due to the low per cent of moisture reduced by 
weed growth in June and early July, checking 
bacterial development. These facts are also 
borne out to a degree in the contrast of Cuts Nos. 
24 and 25, and Nos. 26 and 27, as well as in Cuts 



Progressive Agriculture 81 

Nos. 30 and 33. Do not fail to turn to all these 
pictures while you have this question in mind. 

Cut No. 40 is another demonstration of in- 
creased fertility by summer tilling. Here are 
five heads out of 31 from one grain or stool, and 
there are 341 grains in the five heads or an 
average of over 68 grains each. This is not only 
remarkable but very unusual. There were four 
grains in every group, a fact that is very un- 
common. This was grown near Morcroft, Wyo- 
ming, in 1915, on land that was summer tilled in 
1914 and seeded, as we advised, with 20 pounds 
per acre. By an unavoidable combination of 
conditions the seeding was done late, therefore, 
very little stooling in the fall. The field started 
off in the spring seemingly so thin that the 
owner decided it worthless and plowed up about 
two-thirds, leaving the balance to prove that 20 
pounds was not seed enough, but to his amaze- 
ment he cut from this small field, what he ad- 
mitted to be the largest yield per acre of the best 
wheat he ever saw. The five heads referred to 
were from this field. This is seemingly evidence 
in favor of the correctness of three principles or 
theories; first, that tillage of the right kind at 
the right time is a greater factor in influencing 
growth; second, that with ample available plant 
food, plants are much aided in that all important 
continuous growth that brings the big yield; 
third, that thinner seeding for the more ideal 
seed bed that is supplied with a liberal amount 
of available fertility is of great importance. The 
story also brings out the interesting fact, that 



82 Progressive Agriculture 

there are many things yet to know and study 
about timely tillage. 

WHY THIS REMARKABLE STOOLING AND GROWTH? 

Just a little discussion as to why this remarkable 
growth and stooling may be obtained under such 
soil, moisture and climatic conditions, as we have 
endeavored to represent. We fully appreciate 
that we are wading into a subject the facts of 
which are not known to anyone, in fact the most 
persistent investigator does not know. It is just 
the same as in dealing with electricity, no one 
knows what electricity really is, yet we do know 
that by certain mechanical devices we can rely 
upon specific results, in which we have every 
reason to believe in fact, say we know, that so- 
called electricity does this, or does that, and is a 
controlling element. So too, in discussing the 
growth of all plants we do not know just what 
it is. Yet we have found that by certain mechan- 
ical work under certain soil conditions combined 
with a certain per cent of air and moisture and 
with seemingly certain amount of heat, that we 
do get certain specific marked growth in plants, 
and for the want of better words to explain, after 
studying the question carefully, we refer to bac- 
terial and chemical action as the means of bring- 
ing about or increasing the elements which pro- 
mote that marked growth of the plant called 
fertility or plant food. In going into the details 
of the How and the Why, we have purposely 
kept out of chemistry and dealt almost entirely 
with the physical or mechanical condition of the 



Progressive Agriculture 83 

soil combined with the utility of air and water and 
the tillage or mechanical work necessary to bring 
the results in the most economical manner, as we 
now understand these questions after 35 years 
observation, thinking and experiments. 

The following facts must be recognized by the 
average farmer, when the seed bed in a field is 
fairly fine and firm and carries a high per cent 
of moisture or what is properly termed capillary 
water, which indicates that each soil particle is 
enveloped in a thin film of water while the minute 
spaces between carries air and the surface is 
covered with a coarse loose mulch to protect or 
preserve this condition and the season is advanced 
far enough so the soil and atmosphere is warm, 
the plant makes a very rapid healthy growth. 
Why? 

Our position is that with careful summer tilling 
in localities of light rainfall, that with soil con- 
ditions obtained that is indicated in Cut No. 10, 
and this uniform firm soil becomes warm, the seed 
after being deposited in such soil quickly takes on 
growth as soon as it germinates, and the single stem 
with its leaf is up as indicated in the cut, the soil 
moisture, temperature and plant food is so favor- 
able that the rootlets shoot out among the soil 
grains, branch and multiply very rapidly, and 
each little rootlet sends out a mass of little hair 
roots for feeders and the elements or food is 
consequently gathered in, in very much larger 
quantities than the little lone stalk and leaves can 
utilize or assimilate. This plant food as taken in 
must, however, materialize somewhere in some 



84 Progressive Agriculture 

form, therefore, the additional suckers or stools 
as shown in the other end of Cut No. 10. These 
suckers will keep increasing until the surface of 
all the foliage originating from the one stool 
is sufficient to take care of all moisture by direct 
evaporation that is taken in by the rootlets. 

Cut No. 11 shows not only the ideal seed and 
root bed with its liberally stooled plant, but the 
less favorable or coarse seed and root bed under 
which condition germination and root growth is 
very slow. Not only is it slow but the little feeders 
along the outside of the roots in coarser, looser soils 
are far less in number. Plants under similar con- 
ditions will stool very little if any, because the 
two or three leaves can utilize or assimilate all 
the few rootlets can gather in. Now as you vary 
from the fine perfect seed bed shown on one side 
to the coarse, imperfect condition on the other 
or from the coarse to the fine you change the 
growing and stooling tendency of the plant. 

INFLUENCE OF IDEAL CONDITIONS 

In addition to the physical condition of the 
soil and the soil water, is the available plant food. 
Each one of the three have their respective in- 
fluence upon the stooling and growth of the small 
grain plant. First, is the carefully prepared seed 
bed with the loose mulch, then comes the accumu- 
lation of the proper per cent of moisture and as 
the soil becomes warm the bacterial or chemical 
action then sets in which develops the fertility. 
Where well directed springjor summer tilling has 
been carried on as experience indicates and our 



Progressive Agriculture 85 

illustrations show that a much more favorable 
condition exists and a greater amount of plant 
food is available, therefore, a still greater stooling 
and growth. Study well the specific design of 
Cuts No. 10, and No. 11, and grasp what they really 
represent. No. 10 illustrates the effect of an ideal 
soil condition on growth, and No. 11 gives a 
contrast of the influence on growth of roots and 
plants of both ideal and the poor fitting of the seed 
bed. 



CHAPTER X 

SUMMER TILLING FOR WHEAT 

Under the heading of "Preparation Before Seed- 
ing", we have discussed at some length summer 
tilling in a broad sense, but in this chapter we 
wish to cover it with relation to winter wheat and 
much more in detail. 

Summer tilling is handling the field from early 
spring to time of fall planting in a manner not 
only to gather and store the rain water as it comes, 
but to improve the soil and bring it up to a high 
state of physical condition for increasing the 
available plant food. 

As first outlined years ago, summer tilling was 
only intended for wheat growing and more 
especially winter wheat. But we have found that 
similar principles, with some modifications, and 
previously referred to as Spring Tillage, are ad- 
mirably adapted to the plan of growing corn, 
cane, broom, millet, potatoes and similar crops, 



86 Progressive Agriculture 

In applying the labor for summer tilling, as 
previously explained under the heading " Prepar- 
ation Before Seeding", we have verified the truth 
that correct principles in the preparation of the 
seed and root bed is a long stride forward for 
growing good crops in any season in the semi- 
humid sections, but to complete the success it 
must be followed by timely seeding and the right 
quantity per acre. 

The first step in summer tilling, as previously 
explained, is to double disk the land as early as 
soil conditions will permit. This may be done 
with a single disk by lapping half and letting the 
outside disk of the next round fill in the center or 
dead furrow made by the previous disk. But by 
far the better plan is to use the tandem or double 
disk shown in Cut No. 22. It is much easier to 
regulate the depth and a more uniform job can 
be done with less expense. 

LOOK OUT FOR BLOWING 

It is not desirable, as a rule, to disk deeply, 
especially the first time over early in the spring, 
for the reason that if it becomes hot and dry and 
frequent high winds prevail, the early disked 
field might begin to blow if the land was sandy 
and more especially so if the land had been farmed 
in a somewhat careless manner for several years, 
in which case it becomes loose and dead. 

Soil not only becomes dead by untimely and 
incorrect tillage but it can be kept alive by correct 
timely work. If you have not disked deeply on 
the start it is very easy, should it start to blow, 



Progressive Agriculture 87 

to stop it by disking again and cutting half or 
three-fourths inches deeper. This turns a little 
of the moist firm soil just beneath the mulch on 
top, and by going at right angles with the wind, 
the blowing can be stopped. We have done this 
and completely succeeded in the face of a very 
high wind, and still held the top against later 
winds as the strips of live moist soil laid on the 
top by the disk do not fall apart, but resist the 
wind like small clods. Quite sandy soil cannot, 
however, be safely summer tilled. 

For fall seeding the spring disking should con- 
tinue from early spring up to the first to the 
fifteenth of June, then plow, and if the land has 
been cropped several times plow six to seven 
inches deep and no deeper. But as referred to in 
Class 4 of the " Suggestions", do not allow the 
land to remain long after plowing without using 
the sub-surface packer or the disk harrow set 
straight and well weighted to help fill up the open 
spaces in and firm the lower portion of the furrow 
while it is still moist. 

THE PROBLEM OF WEEDS 

After plowing and sub-packing, the surface 
mulch to the depth of 2\ to 3 inches should be 
kept loose but not too fine. Every possible pre- 
caution must be taken from this time to keep 
the mulch the same depth and allow no weeds to 
grow. The weeds must be kept out and if they 
are kept out and the surface continuously loose, 
big crops will follow, but a few weeds will make 
from 10 to 15 bushels difference in the yield of 



88 Progressive Agriculture 

winter wheat, and more and bigger weeds will 
cheat you out of 20 to 30 bushels, as repeated 
experience has shown. Suitable tools for this 
kind of work are not available, therefore, the task 
of keeping the weeds out with such tools as we 
have is not an easy one. It is hoped, however, 
that some day the real merits of summer tilling 
as it is now understood will be sufficiently appre- 
ciated to demand proper tools, but so far there 
have been so many failures because of the many 
mistakes that the interest in waning, a most 
unfortunate fact in the face of what we are giving 
you in this book, and the many similar big yields 
during the past fifteen years. What one can 
successfully do another should do if he really 
knows how. 

As proof of our assertions regarding the cost 
of weeds, please note Cut No. 37. Here are two 
stools of wheat from the same summer tilled field. 
A part of the field was kept clean of weeds, a 
part in spite of conditions and reasonable efforts 
became somewhat weedy. The weedy part of 
the field was plowed first and the balance im- 
mediately following, same care was given to the 
entire field in plowing, packing and cultivating up 
to seed time, then to make conditions apparently 
all the more alike, the night following the seeding 
1J inches of rain fell over the entire field. Forty- 
three days after seeding the stools of wheat, shown 
in the cut referred to, were pulled. The larger 
ones from the field kept clean and selected as an 
average sample of the stooling shows 20 stools 
or stalks; the smaller ones from the part that was 



Progressive Agriculture 89 

weedy averaged only 6 stools, but these weeds 
were turned under in early July, and from the 
plowing to the pulling of the sample stools no 
more weeds had grown, 45 to 49 days after plow- 
ing the seeding was done, and 43 days after seed- 
ing or about 90 days after the weeds were plowed 
under we observe this wide difference in growth 
and stooling. Is there anything in tillage? 
Certainly if you know how. 

The weeds in this case had probably grown 
sufficient to reduce the moisture prior to plowing 
to the degree that the chemical or bacterial action 
was largely checked, therefore, less available plant 
food. Also the moisture was probably reduced 
to that degree that when the plowing was done the 
soil did not settle down as closely when the packer 
was pulled over the field, therefore, more open- 
ings or spaces were left in the seed and root bed. 

EFFECT OF RAINS ON SUMMER TILLING 

The coarser the mulch over the surface is kept, 
the less packing of the mulch by the light rains, 
and the more of the rain water soaks down below. 
This coarse mulch is best obtained by the tandem 
disk and if the disk manufacturers would put 
carrying wheels on these tandem disks, so we 
could regulate the depth by these wheels and still 
leave the disk sections set at such angle as would 
do the best work, a much more complete destruc- 
tion of the weeds would be possible without cutting 
so deep as to destroy the seed bed. 

The difficulty of the fine mulch is brought out 
in Cut No. 9. When the mulch has been so handled 



90 Progressive Agriculture 

as to become very fine or dust like, it takes little 
rain to settle this top very solid and should the 
rain be sufficient to settle the entire depth of the 
mulch, a few hours of sunshine and you have a 
dense crust, out of what should be your mulch, a 
very unfavorable condition. Therefore it must soon 
be again loosened. 

On the other hand, if the mulch had been kept 
coarse, especially on the top, as shown in Cut No. 
8, the light showers have very little effect and as 
previously stated the coarse mulch is by far the 
most economical, for it requires less frequent 
work and takes in more moisture, in fact several 
modest rains might fall without seriously effecting 
the protection effect of the mulch, and it is more 
effective in preventing loss by evaporation at all 
times, than the dust mulch. 

ADVANTAGE OF THE PACIFIC COAST IN SUMMER 

TILLING 

On the Pacific coast little or no rain falls in the 
summer time, so the serious packing effect of the 
summer rains are eliminated, but the weed ques- 
tion is even more serious and for best results must 
be kept out. The coarse mulch, however, is 
quite as vital in holding the moisture there also. 



Progressive Agriculture 91 

CHAPTER XI 

AMOUNT OF SEED WHEAT PER ACRE 

The question of how much seed wheat to sow 
per acre is a very broad one and needs much 
consideration. The mechanical and physical con- 
dition of each field as previously explained must 
be considered almost by itself, as regards the 
quantity of seed. Years ago, 60, 75 or 90 pounds of 
wheat per acre was the universal practice with no 
regard whatever as to the soil condition or location. 
There is no doubt in our mind, after fifteen years 
of study on the relation of soil conditions to the 
quantity of seed and the final crop yield in any 
and all kinds of seasons, that in many cases the 
50 or 60 pounds of winter wheat seed has been 
directly responsible for the low yield or failure in 
seasons where hot, dry periods have come within 
the last six to eight weeks of the growing season 
and where the field has been well fitted. 

We recall distinctly in 1912 a field containing 
about 20 acres that was summer tilled northwest 
of Indianola, Nebraska. The summer tilling was 
well done and the seed sown early in September, 
60 pounds of winter wheat per acre, on a theory 
that a field in such fine condition would stand it. 
Early in the spring this field was deservedly 
commented upon very favorably. It was the first 
to show growth and was very thick and color 
good, and as both 1912 and 1913 were unfavorable 
years, because of light rainfall and excessive heat, 
the average winter wheat field under ordinary 



92 Progressive Agriculture 

treatment in early spring did not have a very- 
encouraging appearance. But early June was 
reached with continued hot, dry weather and the 
grand prospect of this summer tilled field was 
soon blighted. It required too much moisture to 
keep up the growth of so much foliage. It was 
really the first field to show firing and never pro- 
duced one bushel, and was heralded far and wide 
as evidence that summer tilling was a failure. 
Had 20 pounds of seed been sown per acre there 
would doubtless have been a good crop matured, 
as evidenced by the summer tilled field at Strat- 
ton, Nebraska, 45 miles west of Indianola. The 
Desens field shown in Cut No. 33, was grown the 
same year and a 33 bushel crop matured, due very 
largely to the lighter seeding following the good 
tillage. But had the Desens field been seeded with 
even 45 pounds under the conditions that existed 
it would have resulted in little or no crop. 

We have endeavored to show that the more 
perfect the seed and root bed the less seed should 
be sown. Then again, in case of fall seeding, the 
lately ou put in the seed the more seed is required. 
The stand in the spring must not be too thick; 
then again, if too thin it cannot bring a good 
yield. This question can only be settled by close 
observation and experience. It is however a vital 
one. 

FALL SEEDING SUMMER TILLED LAND 

We will assume that summer tilling has been 
well done by the plowing being done early in June 
and weeds kept practically clean from the field 



Progressive Agriculture 93 

and location north-east Colorado, we would seed 
promptly September first, with 18 pounds of good 
plump seed. 

If however, the plowing has been later and the 
seed bed has not been favored with fairly good 
rains more seed must be sown, possibly 25 pounds 
per acre. Good judgment as to its possible stand 
must be exercised and can only come from close 
attention to details. 

THE REMEDY FOR TOO THICK STAND 

In case of too much seed followed by liberal 
stooling, the field should be single disked in the 
spring with disk set at a sufficient angle to destroy 
enough to bring the stand down to proper amount. 
You cannot do one part of the work of summer 
tilling correctly, and some other part wrong and 
get results. Every part of a telephone, phono- 
graph or automobile must be rightly adjusted and 
in its place or it is a failure. So, too, in growing 
good crops in the semi-humid sections, quantity 
of seed and time of seeding must be as carefully 
considered as tillage. 

FALL SEEDING ON FALL TILLED LAND 

Where wheat follows wheat on fall tilled land, 
more seed is needed, but if a good, fine, firm seed 
bed has been obtained and a fair amount of 
moisture in the soil, 30 pounds is ample in case of 
early seeding. If however, you have very little 
moisture, early seeding on fall fitted land is not 
desirable, for too much growth and no fall rains 



94 Progressive Agriculture 

might exhaust the moisture to that degree that 
winter killing might be the result. 

Plenty of moisture in the soil in the spring to 
draw the frost from the roots in late winter or 
early spring thawing and freezing is proof against, 
so-called, winter killing which in reality is spring 
killing. 

SPRING WHEAT 

In seeding spring wheat, about one-third more 
wheat is necessary than for fall wheat in fairly 
early seeding, and possibly one-half more seed in 
case of late seeding on well fitted land. 

Much depends on the physical condition of the 
seed and root bed and whether the land was fall 
or spring plowed, the real point being whether 
the wheat stools liberally or not, which is governed 
by the degree of care in fitting the seed bed and 
the available moisture and fertilitv. 



CHAPTER XII 

DISKING AFTER THE HARVESTER 

Cut No. 21 shows a very economical way of 
harvesting wheat and double disking the land 
at the same time with a tandem or double disk 
harrow. No matter what crop is being cut, this 
disking we have always found of great value. 
J. M. Moyer, Yuma, Colorado wrote under date 
of October 4, 1915: 

"Have just made examinations regarding mois- 
ture conditions in several fields. I find in the 



Progressive Agriculture 95 

stubble fields untouched the moisture is nearly 
all gone, while in stubble fields that were double 
disked after the harvester, I do not strike dry 
ground at 72 inches, the length of my auger; 
but I do not find as high per cent of moisture in 
the disked stubble field as in my summer tilled 
fields. I also find the native sod dry from the top 
down. This wide difference in face of the fact that 
6J inches of rain fell in August and If inches in 
September is certainly very interesting. " 

While many farmers have learned the value of 
early spring disking yet very few practice disking 
after the harvest. In the average midsummer season 
over the semi-humid sections, the practice or non- 
practice of double disking after the harvest means 
almost the difference of success or failure when 
the following crop growing season is similar to 
1913 or 1914. As previously stated there is no 
time that your soil is improved to as great a 
degree by keeping it moist as in July, August and 
September. 

Some seasons heavy rains follow the disking. 
If a very heavy stubble has been disked into the 
top soil these rains have very little detrimental 
effect, but where a short and somewhat thin 
stubble is disked in, a fairly heavy rain will not 
only settle the mulch but cause weeds to start 
much quicker. In this case disking again is im- 
portant and if done before the weeds get any size 
they will be practically eliminated. Single disking 
the second time will do a very good job if a bull 
tongue is attached to the disk harrow to tear up 
the center or ridge between the two sections to 



96 Progressive Agriculture 

leave this ridge to dry out is very wrong, but 
double disking is much better. The advantage of 
this disking is four fold. Keeps the weeds from 
growing, holds the moisture in the land, causes 
much more of each subsequent rain to go into the 
soil and permits of easier and better plowing. 

CROPS AND THE SOIL FERTILITY 

The question is often asked, and rightly, do 
continued big crops deplete the soil of its' avail- 
able fertility more than small crops? 

Theoretically, possibly yes, but practically we 
are in doubt when applied to the semi-humid 
sections, providing good and well directed tillage 
is carried on. Just look at Cut No. 29. Note the 
even stand above the top wire of the fence, then 
think that it averaged 45^ bushels per acre of 
62 pound wheat, then glance at Cut No. 21, where 
this same field is being cut, then realize that the 
snarled up stubble in the foreground has had a 
tandem or double disk pulled over it with weight 
enough on the disk to force the blades three inches 
into the soil, and you can grasp some idea of how 
much organic matter is available to be worked 
into the soil. It is not only this long heavy growth 
of stubble, but the immense growth of roots that 
must have permeated the top soil in growing this 
wheat. Then look at Cut No. 25 or Cut No. 27 
and think how much stubble would be left to 
plow under when each crop was harvested, also 
the difference in root growth. Do you grasp the 
significance of these facts? 

If you can keep up the organic matter in the 



Progressive Agriculture 97 

soil, from which the humus is derived, may it not 
be reasonable to expect continued good results, 
with the right kind of timely tillage? 

In plowing under such stubble as is shown in 
the disked field referred to, for best results, the 
soil should be moist and plowed fully 6 inches deep 
with a moldboard plow that will turn the furrow 
completely over burying the stubble in the 
bottom, then follow with the sub-surface packer 
well weighted. This combined condition and work 
will pack the soil onto the stubble and so fully 
obliterate the air spaces that decomposition will 
soon take place especially if plowed early when 
the sdil is warm and just as soon as the cell 
structure of the stubble begins to break down and 
the decomposing bacteria get busy, your condi- 
tion begins to improve. 



CHAPTER XIII 

CANE FOR HAY AND SILAGE 

That the feed value per ton of cane hay de- 
pends very much on the time of planting, con- 
dition of the land when planted, and the time 
it takes for the crop to grow, there can be no 
question. With a number of experiments in 1913 
and eighty especially handled fields in 1914 
compared with a hundred or more planted in the 
usual manner, and over a hundred experiments in 
the wet season of 1915, this question is certainly 
a most interesting one. We saw a number of 



98 Progressive Agriculture 

cane fields in the somewhat drouthy year of 1914 
that made five tons of choice, high quality cane 
hay right beside other fields that made only about 
a half to a ton per acre of poor quality. 

CANE HAY A VALUABLE CROP 

The smaller yields were invariably from early 
planting from the fifteenth of May to June tenth, 
while the larger yields were mainly planted from 
July 5 to 17, on carefully spring tilled land. 
See Cut No. 3 ; here are two fields adjoining grown 
by R. Crook, Wilsonville Nebraska in 1914. 
The front field planted May eighteenth, produced 
about half a ton of low grade hay per acre; the 
rear field planted July fifteenth made five tons of 
fine quality hay per acre, the direct result of care- 
ful spring tillage as previously explained. Here 
in this field is a most interesting and broad lesson, 
at the time the photo was taken the early planted 
was dead and brown while the rear one was rank 
and green and only just beginning to head. The 
feeding value of the later planted on carefully 
spring tilled land in all the experiments was 
invariably the highest. 

SPRING TILLING FOR CANE HAY 

The preparation of the land for cane hay 
should be along the same plan as outlined in 
"Spring Tillage For Corn ,, , but the careful tillage 
should be continued three to five weeks longer 
before planting. There are three important ad- 
vantages found in this continued careful cultiva- 
tion before planting for the production of cane 
hay: 



Progressive Agriculture 99 

First. By beginning early and continuing on 
through to some date from June 25 to July 20 
(depending on your location) you will not only 
retain the moisture that you have in the soil from 
the fall and winter rains and snow, but you can 
with proper care add to it practically all the spring 
rains up to the time of planting; thereby, having 
more available moisture from the time of plant- 
ing to maturity than if planted earlier. See Cut 
No. 44, eight acres of cane grown by August 
Desens, in the drouthy year of 1914, spring tilled 
up to July twenty-seventh, drilled in with a 
common grain drill, 30 pounds of cane seed per 
acre, photo six weeks later at which time the cane 
had not reached its full growth by fully 10 inches. 
This field yielded fully 6 tons of hay per acre. 
At the time this was planted many adjoining 
fields planted in early June had already begun to 
fire. One field across the road drilled in June 
fifth, was then drying up and made between half 
and three-fourths tons per acre including Russian 
thistles. 

Second. If the seed and root bed is made firm 
and fine in the early work and the surface kept 
loose and clean of weeds, a greatly increased 
amount of available fertility will be accessible 
to the rootlets of the young plants. As previously 
outlined, this coupled with warm soil and a fine, 
firm, moist seed and root bed will promote an 
exceedingly rapid growth of the plant, and a 
quick grown plant is more tender and has less 
crude fiber. 

Third. By delaying seeding until some date 



100 Progressive Agriculture 

between June 20 and July 20, depending on alti- 
tude, and to some extent on latitude, you secure a 
warmer soil in which to start the young plants. 
The higher the elevation the nearer you should 
come to the earlier date. As a basis for a planting 
time date we would say that in the central part 
of Nebraska and on the Kansas line, we should 
plant July twentieth on carefully spring tilled 
land and slightly earlier as you go northward and 
rise in altitude in proportion to the seasons' 
changes. By this time the soil is thoroughly 
warmed and a greater amount of fertility is 
available. This coupled with ample moisture 
will bring about the quick germination and a 
rapid root growth followed by continuous growth 
of the plant which means tender, succulent and 
palatable fodder that is hard to excel and all 
stock eagerly eat it. Hogs as well as cattle indi- 
cate great fondness for it when well cured. 

HOW TO PLANT CANE SEED 

For cane hay, we would put the seed in with a 
common grain drill. The land should be plowed 
by the fifteenth of May, and the surface kept 
loose and free from weeds. By close attention to 
holding the moisture up to plowing, the soil will 
be moist and in better condition to plow. The 
plowing should be five to seven inches deep, 
depending on the number of years the field has 
been cropped, and the plow followed closely with 
the sub-surface packer. If no sub-surface packer 
is available, use the disk harrow set straight and 
well weighted. From this on to the time of seed- 



Progressive Agriculture 101 

ing, the surface two and one-half inches must be 
kept loose and somewhat coarse and no weeds 
allowed to grow. The more carefully this part 
is carried out the more life is discernable in the 
soil and a proportionate ranker growth of the cane 
is noticeable. 

QUANTITY OF CANE SEED 

To increase the certainty of continuous growth 
under ideal conditions, and anticipating the pos- 
sible drouth later on, 30 pounds of black amber 
cane seed per acre is ample. See Cuts No. 3 and 
No. 44. The rear field in Cut No. 3, also the field in 
Cut No. 44 were sown with 30 pounds of seed per 
acre. The seed should be dropped just into the top 
of the firm, moist soil. Be sure, however, that 
you have good seed and that your seed bed is 
firm and mulch not too deep. 

CANE FOR THE SILO 

Cane for the silo should be planted in rows and 
cultivated. If put in with a lister, plant about 
three to four weeks earlier than for cane hay as 
above outlined, and if surface planted with a 
corn planter, plant five to seven days later than 
with lister, and apply the same early disking and 
careful handling before planting followed with 
timely tillage afterwards. Cane for silo should 
be more mature than for hay; in fact it should 
be headed and seed nearly matured, but the same 
continuous rapid growth is desirable. 

See Cut No. 45. This cane was grown on 
the H. 0. Ranch near Madrid, Nebraska in 1914, 



102 Progressive Agriculture 

a dry, hot year. This field was very carefully 
summer tilled up to June twentieth, then the seed 
listed in rows three feet and four inches followed 
by careful cultivation. The entire 40-acre crop 
was put into two large silos and figured up 8| 
tons of ensilage per acre, fully double the amount 
ever grown before on this ranch even in good years. 
One near by field did not produce one-sixth of the 
amount of feed. It was planted only about three 
weeks earlier but on land not early disked. 

When such crops of number one cane hay can 
be grown in a drouthy year like 1914, as are 
shown in Cuts No. 3 and 44, and a few fields in 
1913, with the numerous marked yields in 1915, 
the question of good feed for stock in ample quan- 
tities need not worry any one if he will adopt 
the plan outlined. Just what this means to the 
semi-humid country may be more fully realized 
when we call to mind the fact that a number of 
farmers were so short of feed some seasons within 
the past seven, that they were obliged to sell a 
part of their stock for the want of feed to take 
them through, and one season especially any 
ordinary quality of hay brought $20.00 per ton. 
then to realize that such crops of cane hay as 
are shown in Cuts 3 and 44, could have been grown 
just the same that year as in 1914, and the crop 
would have been worth $100.00 per acre. Is there 
any real value in knowing that this can be done 
and how to do it? 



Progressive Agriculture 103 

CHAPTER XVI 

KAFFIR CORN 

In Cut No. 42, is shown a fine growth of kaffir 
corn planted by Mr. Moench, at Orleans, Ne- 
braska on July 14, 1914, on spring tilled land, 
•photographed August twentieth, 36 days from 
planting and 36 inches high. This field made a 
very marked growth and was fully 70 inches high 
when harvested. 

Cut No. 43 is another very interesting result in 
spring tilled land at Norton Kansas, grown by 
Mr. Arthur Saum, planted July tenth and photo- 
graphed August twenty-fourth, 42 days after 
planting and 52 inches high a very interesting 
field of kaffir corn. 

Kaffir corn is supposed to be something 
of a drouth resisting plant, from the fact of its 
habit of closing its doors to any growth during 
its early stages when the moisture is almost gone. 
Then if the rain is not too far away, when it does 
come the kaffir plant makes another attempt to 
grow; but its growth after such dormant or hiber- 
nating periods is never very great. In these two 
and about a dozen other fields similarly handled 
we observe a very rapid growth, but in no case 
quite equal to the amber cane, although a similar 
degree of eagerness by cattle and horses to eat it 
as against the slower grown or more stunted 
plants was reported in all cases, indicating the 
advantage of the quick or forced grown plant. 



104 Progressive Agriculture 

CHAPTER XV 

HOG OR BROOM CORN MILLET 

Cut No. 41, shows a field of hog millet grown 
on the H. 0. ranch, Madrid, Nebraska. This 
was seeded July 10, 1914, photographed August, 
fourteenth, 35 days from planting and is three feet 
high and headed. It is known in the central west 
as hog millet, doubtless because of the feeding 
and fattening value of the grain for hogs. It 
seems to have a place in the dryer portions of 
the semi-humid sections as it possesses some 
interesting characteristics. 

First, its grain when mature has nearly the 
same feeding value as corn. 

Second, it will grow and mature a crop of seed 
in the shortest time of any grain plant known. 
We have seen it cut with perfectly matured seed 
in from 43 to 55 days. 

Third, it is a heavy yielder when conditions are 
most favorable. We have known of numerous 
yields of 75 to 85 bushels per acre and one yield 
of 100 bushels per acre, on a basis of 50 pounds 
per bushel, but the seed when fully matured 
weighs fully 60 pounds to the measured bushel. 

We know of a number of farmers who are grow- 
ing it for the exclusive grain in fattening hogs in 
the higher altitudes. 

Spring tilling up to the time the soil is thorough- 
ly warmed by early summer heat, is the proper 
procedure; then drill with the common grain drill, 
about 20 pounds of seed per acre. 



Progressive Agriculture 105 

A little explanation of the habit of the plant 
will clearly show the vital importance of a certain 
soil condition for sure results. 

If the seed bed is fine and firm and has been 
held in a uniform condition for three to four 
jveeks by spring tillage before seeding, then after 
the seed germinates a small but vigorous system 
of roots form. Next a stem reaches the surf ace and 
immediately a crown is formed right at the top 
of the loose soil and the leaves begin to form. 
When the third leaf appears, roots begin to 
start from the bottom of this crown to go down 
into the soil. If by chance there is two inches or 
more dry mulch on top of the moist soil, these 
roots find difficulty in reaching the moist soil 
as it seems to be too far to go without moisture and 
not infrequently the plant withers, as the tiny 
thread that supplies the elements of growth from 
the original roots below to the crown cannot sup- 
port the plant. If, however, there is not more 
than one inch of loose soil or a rain happens to 
fall and moisten the mulch, these roots soon get 
busy in the moist soil and very rapid growth of 
the plant follows. Therefore, a little extra care in 
fitting means many bushels difference in yield. 
We saw fields in 1914 that were entire failures 
because of a deep mulch and a prolonged period 
of hot, dry weather. 



106 Progressive Agriculture 

CHAPTER XVI 

THE GARDEN 

A good farm garden is the admiration of every- 
body, not only the beauty of a variety of rank, 
healthy growing vegetables, but there is so much 
palatable, healthy food to come from it that one's 
mouth almost waters, as he thinks of the many 
good dishes to be made from the crop of radishes, 
lettuce and young onions, melons and tomatoes, 
cauliflower and cabbage, beets, parsnips, carrots 
and many other equally desirable roots. 

All these things are easy if you will have a little 
system in doing the work. Begin early every 
spring and spread a rather modest coating of well 
rotted manure evenly, very evenly over the surface 
and disk it in, cutting 3 to 4 inches. Then plow 
about 7 inches, turning your furrow as evenly 
as possible and completely bottom up. After 
plowing begin harrowing and harrow it several 
times before it has had time to dry on top and 
become cloddy. Every time it rains watch it; 
don't harrow too wet, but don't wait too long 
after the rain. Harrow just to loosen the top 
and keep up this plan. Don't let the weeds grow. 

With the exception of a few radishes, lettuce 
and onions which may go in early for early use, 
don't plant until the soil is warm. 

Early planting of the garden is an old rule that 
has come down many generations, but if you want 
nice, crisp, tender, sweet cucumbers, melons and 
vegetables and plenty of them, try the early spring 



Progressive Agriculture 107 

tilling act and delay your principal planting until 
the soil has a warm life-like feeling. 

However, while you delay your planting, don't 
delay the cultivation. Absolutely keep the top 
1| to 2 inches loose, then after planting keep it 
timely cultivated. Thin out the plants; don't 
leave them too thick. 

Put all your rows just far enough apart to admit 
cultivating with a horse. 

One year of persistent work along these lines 
and you will get the habit, for there is nothing 
nicer than these garden crops when tender and 
sweet, and nothing aids these qualifications so 
completely as to grow them quickly. Note Cut 
No. 47. This picture does not do the row of pie 
plant justice. There are leaves in this bunch 
fully 16 inches across and stems 2 inches through at 
the bottom. Some well rotted manure and good 
tillage did it. Is there anything nicer than tender 
quick grown pie plant for pies or sauce in mid- 
summer? This field is only a short distance from 
northeast Colorado. 



108 Progressive Agriculture 

CHAPTER XVII 

TREES ON THE FARM 

Anyone living on the farm in the great plains 
country knows the pleasing as well as the intrinsic 
value of trees around the home. A small, well- 
located and well-groomed grove about the build- 
ings on the farm, lends enchantment not only to 
the occupants of the home but to the passerby. 
They add many times their cost to the real value 
of the farm; in fact strong, healthy trees lend 
value to all adjoining lands. This is true because 
of the altogether too common idea that trees 
cannot be successfully grown or at least four to 
six years is the limit of their life in all semi-humid 
sections. Fortunately there are now many groves 
ten to twenty years old that fully disapprove this 
idea. 

Trees, like corn, wheat, vegetables and many 
other crops, will not grow and thrive where con- 
ditions are such that they cannot. The reason 
many groves and orchards have failed in much of 
the semi-humid country is the same reason that 
some of the crops have failed. Take for illustra- 
tion Cut No. 25. Here is a piece of wheat grown 
in the very wet year of 1915, what is the difficulty? 

There are certain elements that produce a very 
rank, healthy growth that are not available until 
certain soil conditions exist, these conditions are 
not natural, they must be artificially produced by 
mechanical work and is most beautifully illustrat- 
ed by that old adage. Cultivation is manure, 



Progressive Agriculture 109 

indicating in a broad sense that cultivation makes 
the plant grow. 

A glance at Cut No. 24 and you have the counter 
effect of 25. Here an artificial combination of 
conditions has been mechanically brought out, 
which utilized other natural resources with the 
result of nearly four times the growth. 

The farmer should no longer go blindly into 
these things; he must grasp the Why, then the 
When and then the How. 

Just a glance at the trees in Cut No. 6, Carolina 
poplars. Note the uniform healthy growth, five 
years of good, timely tillage has done this. Observe 
that the surface soil is not fine and there are no 
weeds. The same fact is borne out in Cuts Nos. 4, 5, 
and 7, we personally know of several other groves 
and orchards equally good. 

PREPARING FOR TREES 

In starting shade, ornamental or fruit trees, 
especially in the sections of lighter rainfall, it is 
time gained in the end to summer till one entire 
season, following about the same plan as laid 
down for fall wheat as to time of plowing etc. 
The greater care you take of the field the greater 
will be the degree of success. Weeds must be 
kept out just the same. 

PLANTING THE TREES 

As a rule the best time to set the trees in summer 
tilled land is the following spring when the ground 
begins to warm. Early and careful tillage is also 
important. Should your trees come to you early 



110 Progressive Agriculture 

in the spring be sure to heal them in that day. 
A trench with the north side sloping about 45 
degrees is best. Make the depth in proportion to 
the height of the tree. 

Take the trees from the packages and lay them 
in the trench tops to the north and cover roots, 
body and into the branches with moist dirt. After 
the roots are well covered turn in just enough 
water to dissolve the dirt and settle it well into 
or among the roots, do not let the small roots get 
dry in handling. 

Do not dig the hole until you are ready to set 
the tree, then dig one just large enough to take 
in the roots, and deep enough to let the tree in 
about three inches deeper than it stood in the 
nursery. Do not use water very liberally in setting 
the tree, just enough to disolve and settle the dirt 
well in among the roots. 

In filling the hole after setting the tree, the roots 
should first be covered and water applied ; the dirt 
should be well firmed up to within three inches 
of the top then filled with loose dirt. 

If your tree is healthy it will sure grow. Then 
comes the tillage which is done much as you 
would cultivate corn. Upon the time and the 
kind of cultivation from this on, depends the 
rapidity of growth and healthfulness of the trees. 
Shrubs, roses and almost any annual can be made 
grow and bloom prolificly with this same treat- 
ment. It is always well to protect the body of 
the tree the first spring by wrapping loosely with 
stiff paper. 



Progressive Agriculture 111 

SMALL FRUIT 

The same plan outlined for trees applies to 
currents, gooseberries, blackberries, raspberries, 
and strawberries, and if you observe closely the 
points referred to at the commencement of this 
chapter, there will be no question as to the success. 
To successfully grow these small fruits and flowers 
but little time is required if the work is properly 
applied at the right time. Just want to and it's 
easy. 

BREAKING SOD FOR CROP 

There is very much in the manner of breaking 
sod for crop, especially wheat. Early breaking is 
desirable but the soil must be moist for best 
results. The most economical way is to break 
about four inches deep and use every possible 
precaution to have all furrows even in width as 
well as thickness, then follow as closely as possible 
with a heavy roller to settle the sod down flat, 
and press out all air spaces below. This however, 
cannot be successfully done if the sod is allowed 
to dry while kinked. After the rolling the top 
should be double-disked about half the depth of 
the breaking. In midsummer it will probably be 
necessary to double-disk again to keep the top 
loose and keep down the weeds but do not go 
any deeper than the first time. 

The special points referred to are vital, the 
point being to get the lower part as firm as possible 
and keep the top or mulch loose to aid in keeping 
the moisture, and keep the weeds out at all 
hazards throughout the season, when you will be 



112 Progressive Agriculture 

able to have an ideal seed bed liberally supplied 
with available fertility under which conditions 
either fall or spring seeding will start off under 
favorable conditions. 

The old plan was to break thin, then backset 
about as much deeper. The above plan is more 
economical and will bring better results if strict 
attention is given to details. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE SOIL AUGER IN TILLAGE EDUCATION 

Of all the details in soil culture, none are more 
vital and yet less understood than the utility of 
soil water. Water is wasted by the average 
farmer and we all know that water is the factor 
so much needed to bring us a good crop. We 
look for the rain; we hope for it; we long for it 
and pray for it; yet when it comes we allow a large 
per cent of it to go to waste and seemingly with 
no concern whatever, as to its utility and enorm- 
ous value. We make no preparation to receive it. 
We put forth little effort to store and conserve it. 
Why are we all so lax regarding a question of 
such vital and universal importance? Because 
we have not been educated along this line. We 
are too much inclined to look to and trust the 
heavens for sufficient and timely rain. 

THE SOIL AUGER, WHAT IT WILL SHOW YOU 

There is no implement so little used on the farm 
and yet so capable of conveying a wider scope of 



Progressive Agriculture 113 

valuable information and practical assistance as 
the soil auger. It's intelligent use will disclose 
much of the folly of our past efforts. With a few 
minutes time and a little well directed effort on 
your part, the soil auger will clearly show you how 
deeply the moisture has percolated into your soil 
in the spring. With a little investigation and 
thinking you can see why it has gone deeper into 
some fields than others, a fact that if understood 
quite clearly, explains why certain things should 
or should not be done. It will show you how 
much real working capital you have on which to 
begin your season's work and where it is. 

It will show you with surprising correctness 
how fast this money making moisture will get out 
of the soil during the early spring days if you 
leave the packed surface uncultivated. Once 
allowed to go in this manner it is like money 
foolishly spent, "lost forever". 

The auger will show you how much more moist- 
ure the under portion of your plowed land will 
hold if well packed than if left loose. It will 
show you how the roots of your wheat, oats, 
barley and other small grain feed from the top of 
the moisture first, and how the roots then go 
down deeper for moisture as it is gradually used 
up at the top, during the excessive hot weather 
without rain. During the exrtemely hot June of 
1913, by using a soil auger we found wheat roots 
which had gone down over four feet. If you do 
not have it stored down there the roots can't 
get it. 

It will show you how completely you hold the 



114 Progressive Agriculture 

moisture just beneath the soil mulch if you 
cultivate just often enough and at the right time, 
and if used with persistent, close observation, it 
will indicate when to cultivate to retain the most 
moisture. 

It will show how much faster a thick stand of 
wheat or other small grain will take the moisture 
than a thinner stand. It will not only show you, 
but will convince you with ample evidence what 
the right kind of soil tillage at the right time 
means to your crops and to your bank account. 

KIND AND SIZE OF AUGER 

There are special soil augers made, but the 
common wood auger of one and one-fourth inches 
in diameter with stem lengthened to about five 
feet long is all that is necessary for practical 
purposes. Cut off the little screw at the lower 
end and file or grind off the upper lips and you 
will find it easier to operate. If you have good 
soil and plenty of moisture down five feet in any 
average season, it makes little difference what is 
below. 

HOW TO BEGIN 

Remove the loose surface soil, and as you begin 
boring do not crowd the auger. On the contrary 
hold the auger back so it will cut lightly at each 
revolution giving you a smooth hole full size, and 
permitting the auger to be easily pulled out, as 
you go deeper, without tearing the top. See Cut 
No. 48. Go about four inches each time or until 
the pod is full. 



Progressive Agriculture 115 

WATER HOLDING CAPACITY OF THE SOIL 

Some comprehensive knowledge of the different 
soil formations and the relation of their texture to 
their water holding capacity is quite important 
in planning for your crop and work. Therefore, 
they should be carefully studied. Know your 
soil and how to use it. This will all come to you 
through the use of the soil auger and a little careful 
thinking. Soil of a fairly fine texture will hold 
more moisture per cubic inch than a coarser soil. 
For illustration, a given amount of moisture 
might percolate eight inches in a fixed length 
of time in a fine texture soil containing no sand, 
while in a coarser soil containing some sand it 
would percolate twelve inches in the same length 
of time. In a still looser and coarser soil, the water 
might percolate eighteen inches. The depth at 
which the moisture is found in your soil, however, 
does not always indicate the amount of moisture 
there is in your soil available for plant growing; 
neither does the fact that the finer grained and 
more compact soil carries a higher per cent of 
available moisture in each cubic inch indicate 
that it will carry the crop a longer time without 
rain unless you play your part well. Quite often 
this finer textured soil with its higher per cent 
of available moisture will, in a well prepared seed 
and root bed, promote more stooling and a ranker 
growth of the plant, thus requiring more moisture 
to keep up the daily growth than the coarser soil 
that carries the moisture down deeper and faster, 
in which the return by capillary attraction is 



116 Progressive Agriculture 

also slower. In this coarser soil there may be 
less stooling. Consequently the total plant foli- 
age would require less water and would exist as 
long or longer than the plant in the fine textured 
soil though there is less moisture per cubic inch in 
the coarser soil. 

The tendency of all grain roots to go deeply after 
stored moisture during prolonged dry periods 
is the main reason why plants do not wither 
as quickly in a sandy soil as in heavier, finer 
textured soil upon which the same quantity 
of water has fallen. The finer texture soil requires 
much more watchful care and judgment as to the 
time and manner of cultivation than the coarser, 
more sandy soils. However, this careful extra 
care, if intelligently applied to these finer soils, 
brings greater returns in the end. 

WHEN TO USE THE SOIL AUGER 

Make borings early in the spring as soon as 
frost conditions will permit in all your different 
fields. Then observe by later borings the dif- 
ference in the amount of moisture you have held 
where you have double-disked and otherwise 
cultivated the ground as compared to a field that 
has not been cultivated. Make frequent borings 
after rains for three or four days to observe how 
this moisture percolates into the ground in 
different soil conditions and at different grain 
growing stages. Observe the difference in the 
depth that a fairly heavy rain will percolate into 
the soil that is already moist to a considerable 
depth, as compared to the soil that is practically 



Progressive Agriculture 117 

dry. Make frequent borings in your thick or thin 
stands of wheat and other grains and observe how 
much longer you have apparent available moisture 
with the thinner stand of wheat than in the 
thicker stand on the same type of soil. This, 
however, does not refer to wheat so thin that weeds 
are growing where the wheat should be. You 
must be sure that the thickness of the wheat is 
the only veriable factor, before drawing con- 
clusions. Remember also that a very thin stand 
does not protect the moisture by shading as does 
the stand that just covers the ground. 

Bore in your summer tilled fields and in your 
adjoining fields and observe the difference in the 
per cent and depth of moisture you are carrying 
in your summer tilled fields as compared to other 
fields that are carelessly handled or are growing 
crops. Observe carefully the amount of moisture 
in the very top of the firm soil under the mulch 
when the surface has been frequently stirred or 
cultivated as compared to land that has remained 
a considerable length of time without cultivation. 
Observe the advantage of the coarser mulch in 
holding the moisture as against the finer dust- 
like mulch. This you will find very marked as 
you reach the more heated part of the season, and 
especially if a crop is growing. Notice the 
difference in the amount of moisture in the thick 
and thin stands of corn under the same conditions. 
The difference will be more noticeable after the 
corn reaches the tasseling stage. Above all do a 
little careful thinking as you observe these condi- 
tions, for as you become more interested you will 



118 Progressive Agriculture 

more readily appreciate how many more things 
there are to know, and how many things you 
really did not know. 

EXAMINING THE SOIL AND ITS MOISTURE 

If the auger is used with care and thought, you 
will soon learn just how to use it and how to obtain 
perfect samples of soil. Then with a little careful 
practice you will soon learn how to judge your 
soil moisture for all practical purposes. See Cut 
No. 49. 

You will at times find some soil so dry that the 
soil particles will not cling together, under which 
conditions it is difficult to lift the soil with the 
auger from the hole without a sudden jerk. Such 
soil has practically lost all its capillary or available 
moisture. 

When there is moisture enough, the soil particles 
will cling together until you lift the auger from the 
hole, and as you tip the auger over it readily falls. 
Such soil has considerable available moisture left. 

Another degree of moisture is when it sticks 
together until you have to push it from the auger, 
or rather unwind it, yet it does not stick to the 
auger. This is the most favorable condition of the 
soil for the growing plants, but is usually found 
where the soil is of the loam order and under 
proper tillage. 

Another condition is where there is sufficient 
moisture for the soil to not only stick together but to 
adhere to the auger so you have to scrape off or 
otherwise force from the auger. Under this con- 
dition the soil carries the highest possible per cent 



Progressive Agriculture 119 

of capillary water. This is a condition that should 
be found in summer tilled ground soon after a rain, 
especially in a soil that has only a light percentage 
of sand. 

This is a very important point to be observed 
in your summer tilled fields. If your top firm soil 
immediately beneath the mulch does not carry 
sufficient moisture to nearly or quite represent 
the latter condition referred to, you can rest 
assured that you have not given your field the 
best of tillage. You have lost moisture either by 
growth of weeds, or the allowing of your ground 
to lie too long with a shallow mulch without 
cultivation, or your seed bed is not sufficiently 
fine and firm. Properly handled, summer tilled 
fields should carry this high per cent of capillary 
water in the upper portion of the firm soil right 
through the season or until the crop begins to 
grow, unless your soil is very sandy. This not 
only applies to summer tilling for wheat, but to 
quite a degree in early spring tilling for late plant- 
ing for cane or corn. 

THE AUGER AS A TILLAGE INDICATOR 

By the study of your various fields during the 
summer season using the soil auger as a guide, 
you will very soon appreciate how very vital to 
the larger yields of all your crops is the cultivation 
of your fields at just the right time. 

The one great question the farmer must recog- 
nize is that his last rain though it be a good one, 
may be the last one for the season. Therefore, 
it is up to the farmer to direct his work from early 



120 Progressive Agriculture 

spring until late in the fall in such a way as to 
economize this limited amount of rainfall and 
utilize it to the highest possible degree. 

When you fully realize, as you will by the 
persistent use of the auger, that the surplus 
moisture of this year should and can be carefully 
retained in the soil for next years' crop and by 
retaining more moisture in the soil at all times, 
you promote a life like condition of the soil, a 
condition you will soon learn to appreciate as it 
helps to prevent blowing and increases the avail- 
able fertility, all of which helps to increase your 
yields. 

Note — It must be remembered that the auger test is not an accurate one. 
Sometimes a soil which apparently contains but little moisture may have 
considerable, depending upon the texture of the soil. The auger will, however, 
give accurate information in comparing soils of the same type, and noting 
general moisture conditions. 



Progressive Agriculture 121 



CHAPTER XIX 
CONCLUSION 

I am not satisfied with all I have told you for 
I still believe more can be accomplished when 
we know more about our soils and how to handle 
them. I am planning some extensive experiments 
for 1916 and expect to compile a larger book at 
the close and be able to tell you better how to 
get more out of Mother Earth. 

I am more of the opinion that the moderately 
small farm handled by the farmer's own family, 
with the aid of implements that will get over the 
ground quicker, do a broader scope of work and 
more completely accomplish the work on time, 
and as it should be, is going to support in the 
future, the prosperous and happy farm home. 

The real science or "know how" in farming is 
only in its infancy, because we are just beginning 
to see its broadness and some of its real pos- 
sibilities. 

WHAT SOME FARMERS ARE DOING 

Below are given excerpts from just a few of the 
hundreds of letters the author of this book has 
received bearing on some of the questions dis- 
cussed. They show what real farmers are actually 
doing: 



122 Progressive Agriculture 



Some Strong Endorsements of 
Our JVork 



INCREASED PRODUCTIVENESS 

Mr. Ray Shepherd, merchant, Yuma, Colorado, June 11, 1915: "In 
conversation with Mr. Moyer only yesterday, your name and work were 
mentioned and Mr. Moyer remarked that in his estimation your teachings 
and demonstrations had increased the productiveness of this county more 
than we could conceive. 

"The good your personal supervision and instruction has done to our 
farmers is unmeasureable. I have been in close touch with these people for 
the past six years. I personally know of more occasions than one when they 
have been almost discouraged and ready to give up but you came along and 
talked the matter over with them and they have come through winners, arid 
I am only expressing the feeling of the entire country." 



THEY PRODUCED RESULTS 

Mr. John Dugan, Stoneham, Colorado, June 3, 1915: "I don't believe 
you realize the real benefit you have done and are doing this territory. Among 
the newcomers, there are a few who are familiar with your system of farming. 
These fellows went right ahead and produced results, showing the balance of 
us how to handle this land. The result is that last year we had over fifty cars 
of grain shipped from this small station where ten years ago it was thought 
impossible to raise a bushel. Your talk last April was a big help but just 
made our people hungry for more. The farmers knowing you by reputation 
have faith in your advice." 



SUCCESS IN KNOWING HOW 

Mr. W. W. Cockran, Briggsdale, Colorado, December 23, 1914: "Three 
years ago I listened to a lecture by you in Sligo, I then took up the study 
of farming as laid down by you, and since then the personal advice you have 
been kind enough to give me in my own fields has enabled me to grow what 
would be fairly good crops in Lancaster county, Nebraska, or any other 
place. 

"My wheat this year made 34| bushels, my corn 30 bushels, barley 20 
bushels, millet 20 bushels, and potatoes 120 bushels. I have a small pit silo 
that holds 30 tons, which I filled from 7 acres of corn. These crops were 
all made on less than 8 inches of rainfall, and I owe my success to you." 



Progressive Agriculture 123 

EARLY DOUBLE DISKING 

Mr. Fred Newrock, Weldona, Colorado, November 3, 1915: "I want to 
thank you for your timely advice last spring on late corn planting, for if it had 
not been for your encouraging answer to my letter, I probably would not have 
put in a crop last spring at all, consequently would have been 1,500 bushels of 
corn short of what I am. I double disked my ground early last spring and was 
getting ready to plant corn at the usual time, May tenth, but right at that time it 
kept on raining and freezing and I could not get the crop in, the next couple 
of weeks did not bring any favorable changes and talk was loud and general 
that it was useless to plant corn this year because it would not have time to 
mature. In the meantime I got your letter, then I harrowed twice, my field 
was nice and clean, and about June third, against the solemn advice and ridicule 
of my neighbors, I suddenly decided to plant all my 65 acres, so I listed till 
the eighth the old ground and then surface planted till the twelfth some spring 
breaking I had. Well I never saw anything grow any prettier; it made some of 
them take notice. I had little trouble with the weeds and my corn is thoroughly 
matured, while some of my neighbors' crops though planted May tenth, partly 
taken by the weeds are not well matured, therefore I am in favor of early 
double disking the ground and plant in June." 

GOOD FARMING BEFORE PLANTING 

Mr. J. M. Ralston, Oberlin, Kansas, April 14, 1915: "I am anxious to 
cooperate with you in your work this year. Your system is certainly helping 
this country. 

"I sowed alfalfa on the land I summer tilled under your direction two 
years, and it is the best in the country. 

"I am a great advocate of doing farming before the crop is planted. 
I am convinced your work is all O. K., the fault is with the farmer that is 
doing the work. Enough said." 

ON WELL FITTED GROUND 

Mr. Arthur Saum, Norton, Kansas, October 9, 1914: "The millet was 
planted July thirteenth and harvested September fifth, and threshed 35 bushels 
per acre of nice clean seed. I arn more than pleased with the late planted 
corn. It is certainly fine. It is the best piece of corn in the country. 

"The cane is higher than a man's head and all seeded. I am strong for 
this late planted stuff where the soil has been properly spring tilled. You 
are certainly doing a great work." 

EASTERN COLORADO REJOICES 

Mr. H. C. Hoch, lumber dealer, Yuma, Colorado, June 10, 1915: "East- 
ern Colorado is fast coming to the front as a farming section. Your untiring 
efforts to teach our farmers the best methods of tilling the soil and of keeping 
the moisture in it has been one of the main reasons that big results have been 
obtained. 

"I might mention the names of a great many farmers that have taken 
up your methods of soil culture with good results, but will only name a few: 
G. W. Hahn, Jas. Moyer, Jas. Jacobson, Wensel Black, Thor Olson, Chas 
Chrismer. These have grown some wonderful crops on land farmed by your 
methods. 

"Stay with it, Mr. Campbell; let the good work go on. We are not the 
only ones that appreciate your work." 

GOOD RESULTS WITH CANE 

Mr. Geo. B. Thompkins, Sterling, Colorado, October 3, 1915. "On July 
third, I put in a piece of spring tilled ground to cane and it was six feet high 
September tenth when I cut it, and it will make five tons to the acre against 
two on ground planted to cane May twenty-fifth. You have been a big help 
to me this year by sending me better farming information. I believe in early 
and thorough, continued spring tillage and the necessary later planting." 



124 Progressive Agriculture 

SUMMER TILLAGE DOES THE BUSINESS 

Mr. August Desens, Stratton, Nebraska, September 7, 1914: "Our 
summer tilled wheat was fine up to June eleventh, when we had a terrible 
hail storm making it a total loss. It would have yielded 45 to 50 bushels per 
acre. 

"My cane sowed under your instructions is dandy. It stands about 5£ 
feet high, heading out and has been in the ground only 43 days, will make 
the best feed I ever raised. 

"Our ground we have summer tilled for wheat next year is moist the full 
depth of the five foot auger. We have 56 acres of this summer tilling and are 
well pleased with the system, as it is the only way to raise big crops. Wish 
you could see my cane." 



HEARTY COOPERATION ASSURED 

Mr. E. Loring, Yuma, Colorado, September 25, 1914: "Perhaps it 
might be interesting to you to know something of the 1914 crop conditions 
near Yuma. I could give you names of many who have wonderful yields of 
grain under your system of farming, farmers here are just beginning to realize 
what good or better farming means. 

"I hope Mr. Campbell, you will continue to be with us for some time. 
I am in position to judge the feeling as to better farming among our farmers 
here, for during the winter time many farmers congregate in my office and we 
have thorough discussions regarding methods of farming. I can assure you 
of our hearty cooperation." 



MILLET GETS BIG CROP 

Mr. Emil Andreen, Dalton, Nebraska, September, 14 1915: "I am 
sending you today a sample of millet. It was planted the seventh of July on 
spring tilled land and made a most wonderful growth. I had five acres of it. 
It looks good fof at least 80 bushels to the acre. This is the fruit of some 
of your efforts." 

WELL PAID FOR THE WORK 

Mr. F. E. Vanguilder, Haxton, Colorado, October 24, 1914: "My 
summer tilled field in 1913, yielded 24 bushels to the acre, and had no rain 
from May thirtieth, until wheat was ripe. I had 20 acres of wheat in a field 
adjoining which was planted in corn stalk land well cultivated, and from the 
20 acres I got 46 bushels or 2| bushels per acre, which shows plainly that I 
was well paid for all work done on the summer tilled land. I never expect to 
let another year go by without summer tilling." 



SEND THE SKEPTICS TO YUMA 

Mr. J. M. Moyer, Yuma, Colorado, August 26, 1914: "This year I 
disked my stubble ground while harvesting, as you advocated and I found 
that it surely pays, as I could go ahead and plow afterwards, while where the 
ground had not been disked, the moisture was all gone. I wish you could have 
noted the difference. The more your methods are practiced the less failures 
there will be and the semi-arid districts will be the best of all and bloom like 
Hahn's rose garden. 

"I have been able to grow trees, fruit and grain of different kinds, where 
others have failed, but it has all been done along the lines of your advice. 
I wish hundreds of eastern renters could see and know just what myself and 
several other farmers have done here in the past four years. 

"When you find any skeptics just send them to Yuma and we will con- 
vince them that with the Campbell system properly applied this country is 
as good as any." 



Progressive Agriculture 125 

BELIEVES IN THE PRINCIPLES 

Mr. F. E. Dodson, Stratton, Nebraska, April 2, 1915: "I fully believe 
in your principles and system of farming and I want to be able to put them 
into more effective operation. I would have left this country long ago had it 
not been for the possible results that I know can be accomplished by your 
system. I shall try to put into practice the principles of soil culture that I 
have learned with your help." 

NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT NOW 

Mr. Ed Desens, Stratton, Nebraska, November 2, 1914: "When one 
has plenty of feed at the close of a dry year like this it makes one feel proud to 
think be has accomplished something worth while, and I know I have. It 
has been a hard matter for me to raise feed for stock, therefore, I could only 
winter a few until you taught me your methods. 

"The seventeenth of July, I sowed 20 acres of cane on spring tilled land 
from which over five tons of dry feed the finest quality I have seen. Now 
with one hundred tons of cane in the stack I have nothing to worry about." 

BUT THE WHEAT IS FINE 

Mr. P. E. Parkins, Stratton, Nebraska, May 16, 1915: " While I believe 
your way is the right way, I am not in shape to carry out your instructions as 
I would like to. My wheat that I put in last year on summer tilled is certainly 
fine and encourages one to follow you more and closer." 

MAKES FOR RENEWED CONFIDENCE 

Mr. John W. Schmidt, New Castle, Wyoming, May 30, 1915: "With 
many thanks, I wish to acknowledge the receipt of your instructions and 
interesting letters both of May eighteenth and May twenty-first, together 
with Bulletin, 'Some Tillage Suggestions.' This information has put matters 
more clearly in my understanding ai-i makes oae feel confident and encouraged 
to try again in spite of failure-; in the past when we can see why we failed and 
how to prevent it." 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Progressive Agriculture 129 




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Progressive Agriculture 




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Progressive Agriculture 




No. 4. Four Years From Raw Prairie 

G. W. Hahn's home 5 miles north of Yuma, Colorado. A result of 
four years of careful planning and tilling with a purpose. This is 
entrance to grounds on Rose Hill Farm shown in No. 2. Many things 
are impossible until we know how. See Page 26. 




No. 5. Apple Orchard. Yuma, Colorado 

Result of careful tillage for five years on Mr. Hahn's farm. These 
tress are directly to the rear of No. 4. Does this look bleak? See Page 26. 



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No. 6. Remarkable Growth of Trees 

Windbreak of Carolina poplars grown by J. M. Moyer, half mile 
south of Yuma, Colorado; five years old, average 18 feet high; result 
of careful cultivation, no irrigation. Note the even course mulch 
among the trees. See Page 73. 




No. 7. Cherry Orchard 

J. M. Moyer's cherry orchard, five years old, handled same as the 
Carolina poplars; no more marked growth could be obtained any- 
where and what any farmer can have. Just a little know how. 

See Page 73. 



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No. 8. Coarse Soil Mulch 

Illustrating the advantage of the coarse mulch as explained on 
page 30. 






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No. 9. Fine or dust Mulch 

Showing the disadvantage of the fine or dustlike mulch as ex- 
plained on page 30. 



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135 




No. 10. The Stooling of Grain 

Showing rapid growth and stooling of grain in an ideal seed bed. 
See page 85. 




No. 11. Good and Poor Fitting 

Showing contrast in growth and development of plants in a coarse 
and loose soil as against an ideal seed bed. See page 8. 



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Progressive Agriculture 




No. 12. Phenomenal Growth in Fifty-Four Days 

Corn on Mr. Moench's farm, Orleans, Nebraska, planted July 1, 



1914. Photographed August 23, fully six feet high and tasseled. 
teresting explanation on page 52. 



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No. 13. Result of Spring Tillage 

Same field as No. 12, taken thirty days later; crop fully matured 
while other fields with the usual preparation all badly burned. 
See page 53. 



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137 




No. 14. Stunted Growth From Early Planting 
Grown by W. W. Cockran, five miles south of Sligo, Colorado? 
planted May 12, 1915, compare with Cut 15, that was planted twenty- 
five days later. See Page 54. 




No. 15. Result of Spring Tillage 

Same farm as No. 14, corn planted June 6, difference as between 
the two due to additional available plant food and warmer soil. 
Twenty-five days additional spring tillage. The thin appearance 
is due to the fact that the entire field was cut but these three rows. 

See Page 54. 



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Progressive Agriculture 




No. 16. Remarkable Corn Crop a Mile High 

Shocks cut from field No. 15 near Sligo Colorado, 150 miles due 
north of Denver. See page 54. 




No. 17. Forty-six inches High in Thirty-eight Days 

Corn on Burlington farm at Holdrege, Nebraska, planted June 30, 
1914, photographed August 7; twice the growth in half the time of 
usual planting. See page 55. 



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139 




No. 18. Early Tilled and Well Handled 

Corn on Burlington farm, Holdrege, in the hot dry year of 1910; 
timely tillage made the crop. Compare with cut No. 19 just across 
the road. See page 46. 










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No. 19. Destroyed by Drouth 
Field adjoining No. 18, no early preparation and but little culti- 
vation, with result of no crop. See page 47. 



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Progressive Agriculture 




No. 20. Root Growth of Listed Corn 

Dangerous practice is to not split the ridge until it has become 
the main feeding ground of the roots. See page 49. 




No. 21. Harvesting and Disking With Tractor 

Showing important practice of double disking ground immed- 
iately following the harvester on J. M. Moyer's 50-acre field on new 
breaking, average 45', bushels. See Page 37. 



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141 




No. 22. Disking After Harvester With Horses 

Showing method of pulling the tandem or double disk behind 
the harvester. See page 37. 




No. 23. Tandem or Double Disk Harrow 

One man with six horses with this device will do double the work 
one man and four horses with a single disk. See page 29. 



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Progressive Agriculture 




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No. 24. Good Crop From Good Fitting 

A 1915 crop on ground broken near Yuma in 1914 and well fitted; 
yield 39| bushels of wheat. Contrast with No. 25. See page 67. 




No. 25. Poor Crop From Poor Fitting 

Broken in 1914, on section adjoining No. 24; yield in 1915 12| 
bushels. Why the difference? Tillage only. See page 67. 



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143 




No. 26. Second Crop After Summer Tilling 
J. M. Moyer's field, Yuma Colorado; summer tilled 1913; 1914 
crop 47^ bushels; 1915 or the crop shown in cut 31 bushels; two years 
total 78 1 bushels. See page 68. 




No. 27. Second Crop After Attempted Summer Tillage 

On field adjoining No. 26, also summer tilled 1913; crop of 1914 
made 24J bushels; this crop on 1915, 11| bushels. Two years total 
36 bushels. Why not 78£? Did not know how. See Page 68. 



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Progressive Agriculture 




No. 28. Winter Wheat on New Ground 

For facts concerning this remarkable field and its lesson as to 
right and wrong preparation, see page 70. 




No. 29. Good Preparation; Big Crop of Wheat 

Broken and carefully handled by J. M. Moyer from prairie sod in 
1914, crop of 1915 yield on 50 acres, 45i bushels per acre. See page 71. 



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145 





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146 



Progressive Agriculture 











No. 31. Wheat on Summer Tilled Ground 

Summer tilled in 1912, harvested in the hot dry year of 1913, yield 
34i bushels, on J. M. Moyer's farm. See page 72. 




No. 32. Moyer's ChampionlCrop 

Ground summer tilled in 1914, crop of winter wheat 1915, 51 
bushels. Does it pay to farm well? Mr. Moyersays it does. See Page 72. 



Progressive Agriculture 



147 



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Progressive Agriculture 




No. 34. Big Crop With Little Rain 

C. L. Morgan's farm 3 miles south of Sligo, Colorado; summer 
tilled in 1913 with 7% inches total rain; and 4^ inches from January 
1, 1914 to cutting the crop or 12 inches in 19 months. See Page 74. 




No. 35. The Acme Harrow. See Page 32 



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149 




No. 36. Plant Food the Result of Tillage 

Showing difference in stooling of wheat on adjoining fields, one 
having been summer tilled, the other given ordinary treatment, 
planted same day and pulled 41 days later. See page 79. 




No. 37. Loss of Plant Food From Weeds 

Showing how a few weeds depleted the moisture and checked 
the necessary chemical action. See page 80. _*. 



150 



Progressive Agriculture 




No. 38. Result of Thorough Preparation 

Winter Wheat six miles east of Akron, Colorado; summer tilled 
1912, crop of dry year of 1913; remarkable growth with little rainfall 
because of correct tillage. See page 77. 




No. 39. Big Crop From Good Tillage 

Winter wheat Holdrege, Nebraska; summer tilled 1903, harvested 
in 1904, a somewhat drouthy year; yield 54 j bushels of 64 pound 
winter wheat. See page 76. 



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151 




No. 40. Big Yield From Thin Seeding 

Five heads out of 30 from one grain of wheat, containing 349 grains, 
from summer tilled ground in eastern Wyoming. See page 81. 









No. 41. Hog or Broomcorn Millet 

Grown on H. O. Ranch, Madrid, Nebraska; planted on spring tilled 
ground July 10, 1914; photographed August 14, or 35 days from plant- 
ing; average 36 inches high. Also called Hog Millet. A grain as well 
as hay. See page 104. 



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Progressive Agriculture 



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No. 42. Kaffir Corn 

Grown by Mr. Moench, Orleans, Nebraska; planted on spring 
tilled ground July 14, 1914; photographed August 20, 38 inches high 
in 36 days. See page 103. 




No. 43. Kaffir Corn 

Grown at Norton, Kansas, by Arthur Saum; planted July 10, 
1914 on spring tilled ground, photographed August 24, 52 inches high 
in 42 days. See page 103. 



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153 



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No. 44. Cane on Spring Tilling 

Grown by August Desens, Stratton, Nebraska; planted July 27, 
1914; yield over 6 tons per acre of dry hay; cane on adjoining farm 
planted June 5, less than half ton. See page 99. 




No. 45. Cane for Silo 

Grown on H. O. Ranch spring tilled; listed in June 27, 1914; care- 
fully cultivated; average yield 85 tons per acre of ensilage; double 
amount ever grown there before. See Page 101. 



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Progressive Agriculture 




No. 46. Sudan Grass 

Grown by W. W- Cockran, Sligo, Colorado; planted June 15, 
1915; over six feet high. Photographed Sept. 25. This plant promises 
well for hay; is probably better than cane. 




No. 47. Tillage in the Garden 

Rhubarb or Pie Plant, grown on the H. O. Ranch, Madrid, Ne- 
braska in 1915 a result of thorough careful cultivation. See page 107. 



Progressive Agriculture 



155 




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